Donna Parker at Cherrydale

Donna Parker #1

by Marcia Martin

Donna Parker at Cherrydale is the first book in the Donna Parker series. Donna and her best friend Ricky take summer jobs at Camp Cherrydale, a camp for young children run by Dr. and Mrs. Duvall.

As junior counselors, Donna and Ricky immerse themselves in camp life. They meeting new people, get to know their young charges, run activities, and soak up the lovely surroundings of the camp.

However, camp life is not all fun and games. Donna's senior counselor is acting very strangely. Dr. and Mrs. Duvall seem to be hiding something. A young girl from Donna and Ricky's hometown is causing problems at the camp. As if all of those issues weren't enough, there is an intriguing and mysterious house in the nearby woods.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Childrens, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Classics

282 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Pen name of Marcia Lauter Obrasky Levin.

A popular children's book author, creator of the Donna Parker series, 22 books for beginning readers, and some of the first enrichment text books in the "New Mathematics". She was born and raised in Philadelphia, and lived in Rye, New York for 56 years.

Reviews

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book series was huge when I was a kid in the sixties. My (older) sister and I squabbled over them; they were thicker than the Nancy Drew books, and since I was a faster reader than my sister, I was always getting stick for picking up "her" book before she was done with it! I don't know where we got them, but somehow I thought this one came after Donna Parker, Special Agent. After all, in Book 2 Donna is starting ninth grade, which makes her, what? Fourteen?--but in this summer adventure, she seems much more grown up and mature than in the second installment. I enjoyed the summer camp story a lot more than the school stuff, but that's probably because I hated school anyway (loved learning, hated school). Donna is pretty responsible and sensible, compared to Ricky's spontanaeity, but she isn't quite as prissy at Cherrydale as she became later on in the series. Of course it's wish-fulfillment fiction for girls, so her parents have plenty of money and Daddy's work takes him on a round-the-world trip in another volume, meaning plenty of presents for pretty, practically-perfect Donna. Probably too dated for girls of today, but I enjoyed them then.
ETA: This time round I noticed that Cherrydale follows Daylight Saving time while The Pines, just a few miles down the road, does not. Was that a thing in the 50s?
Also, here are Donna and Ricky working all summer long for their board and keep, looking after little kids. I know from experience that CITs work hard and don't get paid, but that was for a mere 2 weeks, not all summer. Sounds to me like Dr Duval, with his city practice as a pediatric specialist which he goes to every day, his campers who pay to attend, and his unpaid employees, is feathering himself a very soft nest indeed.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every once in a while I get nostalgic for books I read as a kid. I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' house, especially during summer. I particularly loved the Whitman books -- the Donna Parker books were particularly delightful. It definitely harkens to simpler times when an electric sewing machine was a very big deal and more mothers than not actually knew how to sew. Yes, it's dated but I still find the books charming and if I see one of the books I loved as a kid at a thrift store, I pick it up and enjoy a quick nostalgia trip.

[Melodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did so love these books when I was a kid!! I remember buying them for $.59 at Kresge's when I had money or asking for them for Christmas. Man, were things a LOT simpler then! My 2nd favorite of the whole series.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this whole series as a young girl. My daddy brought home the first one for me to read when I was in about 4th grade and home sick from school. It was the first "big" book I remember reading and I was hooked on reading from that point on!

[Freyja Vanadis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read this book for probably 40 years, and it brought back a lot of sweet memories. How I wish life was as simple as it is in the book!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read all of the Donna Parker books when I was a kid during the summers I would spend at my grandparent's house. Those copies had belonged to my mom and aunts. I got all nostalgic for them the other day, so I checked Ebay and managed to score FIVE of the books for $5.84, including shipping!

The heroine, Donna Parker, is pretty and popular and always manages to say and do the right thing. Her only flaws seem to be that she hates eating breakfast and she likes sleeping late. :P

The books present what I can only assume is an idealized version of growing up in the 50's, much in the manner of TV shows like Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best. But that's no different than what the Babysitter's Club books did in the 80's and The Princess Diaries are doing now, is it? Still, there's nothing wrong for nostalgia, and I see history repeating itself, as I watch my daughters sit down with BSC books and enjoy them just as much as I enjoyed reading my mom's Donna Parker books.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally got to read the first of the great Donna Parker series by the legendary Marcia Martin! I LOVED it! I can read most books at a sitting but I wanted to make this last so I deliberately read just a few pages each day!

I read Donna Parker: On Her Own first decades ago as a little girl! This book has the same feel, the same atmosphere as Donna Parker's hometown and introduces this delightful character and her best friend Ricky - it is truly enchanting ! Five Stars, the maximum! :)

[Susan Liston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a lot more Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew than Donna, but this was one of my favorites. I hadn't read it in so long that I had forgotten it, so I enjoyed the many oh, yeah, moments as it unfolded. (Donna Parker is a dreadful goody two shoes, but I did remember that, so I was mentally prepared.)

[Roberta · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first in the Donna Parker series. Donna and Ricky have just finished 8th grade and are junior camp counselors for the summer.

[Joy Gerbode · Rating 3 out of 5]

During busy wedding week, I enjoyed this light teen romance from my youth, and thoroughly enjoyed the story once again.

[PattyS · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember finding this book at a garage sale when I was a preteen, and I loved it!

[Lori Nemitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read summer 1980.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nostalgic read. This was my favorite Donna Parker book when I was growing up.

[Nicole Skokowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been a childhood favorite of mine. Always a fun, quick read.

[Lydia Therese · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a fun little book, but compared to other series such as Cherry Ames or Trixie Belden, Donna Parker just fell flat for me. She didn’t really have any sort of distinct personality and the “mystery” was incredibly lame. Of course, if I was younger, I don’t think I would have noticed or cared and I think I would have really enjoyed it. As I said, it was still fun to read and it was cute. Just in comparison to other similar books, there are better series to read. 2/5 stars.

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reliving my younger days by rereading the books I so enjoyed.

[Bec · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end made the cliched beginning worth getting through.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whilst Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew seem to have a lot of the limelight, others like Donna Parker have receded into the shadows and backwaters of time - this was the first in the series around our intrepid young heroine Donna parker and it was reasonably good, nothing too memorable, and perhaps there is a reason it is not as well known as the other girls but we will persist with number #2 at some point in the future.

[Megan Hutchins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love old books, and this one was a rare find at a thrift store for $2.25 :) It was an enjoyable story, and I recommend for middle school age girls - a bit of mystery, a bit of romance, and a lot of fun!

The one thing that annoyed me was the fact that every chapter ending had to be suspenseful for some reason. So it was really anticlimactic most of the time.

But overall, a really cute book.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good book, but what a weirrrd camp. Didn't they get weighed by the camp doctor every day?

[Joni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this series growing up, and I just loved it!

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nostalgic fun! I was glad to find this and 3 others in the series in really good condition from bookrescue.com.

[Amy Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little corny for me, but my daughter loved it.

[Randy Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book of the of Donna Parker series, from Whitman Publishing. Somehow, I have about six books from this series—a couple of them have amazing covers—so it was hard not to buy them, I guess. In this one, Donna and her friend, Ricky, get jobs as counsellors at a summer camp called Cherrydale, and it's a pretty detailed depiction of the duties and responsibilities they have, looking after younger children. It sounds really hard, actually, and they both experience a lot of anxiety, but eventually learn a lot and get comfortable with it. I wonder if the summer camp story is kind of a sub-category of children's series books—there seem to be a lot of them. I never went to camp myself, aside from a brief stint in the scouts—I don't think I even made it to Webelos. I sure don't think I'd have been able to put up with being a camp counsellor—it sounds pretty rigorous. The girls don't even get paid for it, either! They struggle a bit, but ultimately learn a lot and enjoy it. Donna is hardworking and responsible, but Ricky is a bit of a troublemaker, and kind of pushes Donna into a mystery, somewhat against her better judgement. The mystery in this book is pretty much a subplot. This is actually a fairly long kid's book, and I practically felt like I spent the summer at camp, myself. I'm ready for autumn—to get back to school and so forth! The most interesting thing to me was this one character, a young boy, who has had some kind of trauma and doesn't speak. We later find out that he had been sick with encephalitis, which might have affected him mentally. I had encephalitis myself when I was about seven, and was hospitalized with the worst headache I've even had. All through school, the one thing I was known for was being quiet (though not totally mute like this kid) but I never thought of it being related to any illness. Maybe it was, and maybe I had a number of good people like Donna Parker helping me through things, for which I'm thankful.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder if a summer camp can get away with "hiring" kids and paying them nothing and not even giving them any real time off for an entire summer (I mean a couple of hours once in awhile and a day off maybe once??) What were Donna's parents thinking here? Anyway that said otherwise I enjoyed this very vintage book. Aside from the unpaid labour aspect of the story there were a few other clear indicators that this book was set in a very different time. For one thing Donna wanders into the woods and meets a stranger who she immediately befriends. In a book written today an old man hanging around in the woods near a children's camp would raise a lot of red flags! Writing this review after reading a few more in the series I also have to say in this one Donna seemed much more mature than she does in the next few entries. I don't know if this was intentional on the author's part or she just decided to give Donna more inner turmoil later on.

[Karen Szyszko · Rating 3 out of 5]

While waiting for the next installment in the book series I am reading to arrive, I scoured my book collection(s) and stumbled across my Donna Parker books. It's been a while since I've visited my old girlfriend and decided to take a break from World War II to enjoy a lighter read.

If nothing else, this is a good nostalgic read. Times seemed so much simpler. I can even hear the bees buzzing in the heat of the day. A walk to get an ice cream soda was one of the best ways to spend a lazy summer afternoon; but, to stumble upon a boarded-up house in the woods, with a shabbily dressed man in the vicinity, only makes things more ominous.

In sum, this is a quick, delightful read and it added to my numbers in the Book Challenge.

[Naomi G Rivkis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a generation too young for the Donna Parker books, but I inherited my mother's copy of this one. I used to read it when I was a kid, at my grandparents' house, where Mom's old things from her own childhood were still kept and I could browse among them.

This was my favorite of the series. Donna is more than a little too perfect, but I liked her spunk, and her adventures were interesting. They've turned into great period pieces, for anyone who wants to know what teenaged girls were offered to read in the 1950s and 1960s.

[Eileen McCauley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely above average teen girl book written in the 1950s/eary 1960. The characters seem more real and boys are definitely a secondary plot point. I agree that Donna seems more mature than Jr High.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This YA serial would be more appreciated by older adults. Many behaviors and language would be lost on the younger set. Good read during this pandemic to remember a simpler time.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely for younger girls, but I was one when I first read it!