Sue Barton Books
Describes Sue Barton's humorous scrapes and adventures as a probationer and student nurse
Nurse Barton must postpone her marriage to Dr. Barry until they can straighten out the medical and personal difficulties of his country practice
Sue Barton is the central character in a series of seven novels for adolescent girls written by Helen Dore Boylston between 1936 and 1952.
Sue Barton left her position as Superintendent of Nurses at the Springdale, New Hampshire Hospital in order to raise a family. Now she and Dr. Bill have three six-year-old Tabitha and the four-year-old twins, Johnny and Jerry. Sue is happy in her job as wife and mother until she goes to a reunion of her class in nursing school where the accomplishments of others make her feel as if she is stagnating. Yet Sue finds herself using her talents in countless ways as she nurses the neighborhood. She finds work for a disabled farmer; she pinch-hits for the visiting nurse; she helps bring the famous artist, Mona Stuart and her teenage daughter Cal together. And always something is happening at home for Sue and Bill and their faithful Veazie Ann to cope with - Jerry's strange tantrums, Johnny's disappearance in the woods with his little friend Anne, Tabitha's attempt to run away. Are Sue's training and abilities wasted on all these daily and personal small problems? Her customary humor and warm good sense help her decide.
Nothing ever stands still in Sue Barton's household. Just when Sue thinks that she has everything under control, with Tabitha at school, the twins and baby Sue in good health, bang comes the discovery that Dr. Bill, her husband, is in trouble. He comes down with pneumonia on a fishing trip, and when they get him out of the woods he is ordered off to a sanatorium for six months. The emergency brings all of Sue's energy to the she applies for and quickly receives a job as staff nurse at the Springdale Hospital, where she had once been Director of Nurses. She returns to the hospital feeling like an old fire horse, forgetting her troubles in the happiness of the old routine - temperatures, bed making, medicines, all the care of sick and frightened people. Sue enjoys working directly with patients far better than executive work, and it isn't long before she is involved in staff personalities and problems. Not all of those deal strictly with nursing. There is the love affair of a student nurse and a fancy-free intern which need an expert prod from Sue. Sue Barton's talent for getting into and out of a tangle of human relations propels her through her personal and professional ups and downs in this final tale of the enchanting red-headed nurse from New Hampshire.