Sue Barton, Neighborhood Nurse

Sue Barton #6

by Helen Dore Boylston

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.

Genres: Fiction, Nursing, Childrens, Young Adult

Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

An only child, Helen Dore Boylston attended Portsmouth public schools and trained as a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital. Two days after graduating, she joined the Harvard medical unit that had been formed to serve with the British Army. After the war, she missed the comradeship, intense effort, and mutual dependence of people upon one another when under pressure, and joined the Red Cross to work in Poland and Albania. This work, often in isolation and with little apparent effect, wasn't satisfying. Returning to the U.S., Boylston taught nose and throat anaesthesia at Massachusetts General for two years. During this time Rose Wilder Lane read Boylston's wartime diary and arranged for it to be published in the Atlantic Monthly. - Source

- More information

Series:
* Sue Barton
* Carol Page

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edited to add:
The list of books recommended by Helen Dore Boylton and her collaborator that I mention at the end of this review is now complete. I hope people will look at it, because it turned out to be far more work than I expected, so I want it to be appreciated! There are now lots more late 1940s picture books with 0 ratings listed on goodreads than there were before. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. However, I also had to create entries and found images for some books that actually look potentially interesting.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

*****************************

An enjoyable entry in the series, even though it's probably the one with the least amount of nursing content, as it's mostly about Sue's family, and a neighboring girl whose unhappiness Sue tries to resolve. I remember enjoying the parts about the girl, Cally, when I read the book as a child, but for some reason I never reread it, until I embarked on my first ever complete Sue Barton read a year and a half ago. (I am hoping to get caught up on reviewing them all!).

A very small quibble here is that I feel Sue's intense interest in antique furniture (in one particular chapter) comes out of nowhere, just for the sake of Plot.

When I finished, I glanced at the dedication, to Margaret Ayer Cobb, and for some reason decided to google that name. This led me to an obituary for Margaret's daughter Jane, which describes Jane as the "silent" coauthor of Helen Dore Boylston's books. How valid this statement is, I don't know, but Boylston herself certainly acknowledged some contribution in a note at the beginning of Sue Barton Senoir Nurse, writing "I wish to extend my thanks to Jane Ayer Cobb, whose criticism and knowledge of modern young conversation have been invaluable."

Further poking around on google revealed that Helen and Jane collaborated on a handful of columns reviewing recently published children's books. The columns were published in The Atlantic Monthly from 1946-1951. I've started reading them on microform at the library, and just for fun started a list of the books the two chose to recommend, which is still a work in progress:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is darling. (What can I say, the language of the time is rubbing off on me.) The title's a little misleading because Sue isn't really the neighborhood nurse here - she's more like the neighborhood mother. Cal is a magnetic character, and Sue's kids are delightful, and Bill is darling, too. This is a little like Anne of Ingleside, in a way: old fashioned but somehow timeless, centered on family, and so, so charming.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sue is now a stay-at-home mom and her three children and still does some community nursing. Highlights include a troubled teen named Cal who just moved into the neighborhood, Tabitha's severe cut on her leg, Jerry's undetected musical ability and Johhny falling in love. No strict nursing tasks but still enjoyable.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my two favorites from the "Sue Barton" series, ("Student Nurse" is the other). Sue's question of whether her vocation is being wasted as a stay-at-home mom is well-explored here. She eventually realizes, through providing first aid and solving personal problems for the neighbors, that her nursing does not have to be confined to a medical setting, but can take place anywhere. A fascinating example of this is when Sue’s young daughter, Tabitha, cuts her leg, and Sue and Bill have to perform an emergency operation to suture the cut, right on the kitchen table, with Sue providing a home-made ether cone. And, at the end of the story, Sue reveals a wonderful surprise that reinforces her conclusion that she needs to be a stay-at-home mother for awhile longer. Wonderful story.

[Rebekah Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Another fun story about Sue Barton after she is married. This book starts off about seven years after the last one. Sue has three children now and is being a wife and mother with only some times working as a nurse. But that doesn’t mean she’s not helping others. She sometimes fills in for the rural nurse.
I liked Cal and her mother. And the rest of the characters. There is some excitement in the story as well as places to smile and laugh over. It was fun to reread it.
There are a few swear words used that can be whited out.
This is not a Christian book.

[cloudyskye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as sweet as the others in the series. A world of wholesome values, no forced "political correctness", so refreshing. Only one more to go, sadly.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kit and Sue go to visit the hospital they trained in and Sue starts to wonder if being a stay at home mum is a waste of her nursing skills. She finds herself caught up in the drama of her famous artist neighbour and her neglected daughter, while her own children bring their own unique problems.

This one was interesting because Sue is raising her kids and is not working, but her medical and social skills are required to solve a few problems. Cal likes to hang around at the Barry house and spend time with Sue and the kids, and Sue is determined to help the girl repair her fractured relationship with her mother and find her a few new friends. Of course Sue's interfering, however well intentioned, is not an instant success! You could see things from the sides of Cal and Mona.

Sue's kids are little devils! Tabitha sulking and running away to invade Mona's house, Jerry's tantrums and strange behaviour and Johnny's determination not to be sererated from his new friend Anne. The scene where Sue is trying to show a rich neighbour the importance of stable parenting is so funny as her kids decide to create utter anarchy during the visit. I was in stitches laughing!

My favourite part of the story was Johnny and Anne's adventures. It was quite sweet to see how the pair adored each other in that innocent way that kids have before hormones wreck things. The story shows different sides to Sue and Bill, and helps to bring Cal and Mona closer together. There may not be much action but it was really well written. This was a good addition to the series.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I confess to reading this because a Sue Barton series book was featured on Awful Library Books, and because I did so enjoy the candy that was the last one I read. This one, however, shows its age terribly since Sue has found her Highest Most Important Calling as a Wife and Mother (and I'm reading The Feminine Mystique right now and boy can you see how American cultural changes led to changes in this series!). Still some exciting medical emergencies and Sue has a weird affection for the old-fashioned kind of mask for administering ether, which is totally bizarre in a series that seemed to have been focused on the new ways of nursing before. The writing does shine a bit here, in an unexpected way for series junk. (I don't know that I think this deserves the ALB treatment either - there is a real reason to keep old series fiction in a community filled with casual researchers and nostalgic readers, and if you don't keep it in J because its appeal is really for adults, is it really reasonable to keep it in adult fiction?)

Edited to say: Oops! It was a Cherry Ames on ALB, not Sue Barton, but I still think it's worth a large public library like mine keeping this sort of series fiction in the children's department!

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the last two books seeming a little lackluster, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. While some plot points were still too easily resolved, I felt like the writing and dialogue was more similar to the fresh and witty banter that the first few books had. I also really liked the setting for this, as well as the new secondary characters that were introduced. Some of the homey, everyday-life details that were included reminded me just a little of the Beany Malone books, and I mean that in a very positive sense. There is also a nice bit of commentary on raising kids and on marriage, some of which still seems pretty relevant.

I love how Sue is portrayed at this stage of her life and I'm glad the author chose to continue the series. Reading this kind of makes me long for the days of friendly rural communities and less technology, where neighbors looked out for each other and kids were free to roam and play (although that last part didn't always work out so well). I'm thankful that we have seatbelts, though . . . among other things. (I don't know what Sue was thinking letting Tabitha walk around the car like that!)

I think this is one of my favorite Sue Barton books; I'm tempted to give it 5 stars. Even Bill seems likable!

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah, where have the 1970s photo covers gone?! This isn't what my copy looks like.

But I don't really care. I know that some of the attitudes in this book are somewhat - ahem - dated, with respect to the roles of men and women in bringing up children. But if you have ever been the mother of three small children, much of what's described here rings very true - the dirt, the tantrums, the unanswerable questions that come from nowhere, the accidents, the noise, the jobs that always need doing, the precious moments ... HDB captures this very well indeed.

There is a plot in here, about new neighbour Mona Stuart and her teenage daughter, and it's told over a fairly tight time-frame of a few weeks (unusual for a Sue Barton book). There is still some nursing - mainly of the emergency sort, although Sue has a day as relief visiting nurse - but the theme of the book is about whether Sue's nursing training is wasted now that she's a mother.

To work or not to work, that is the question ...

[Bethany]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have you ever remembered reading a book as a child but find yourself unable to remember the exact title of the book, let alone the author or key points of the plot?
Well, this is one of those books for me. I read it once as a child (I think I got it at my grandmother's library) and vaguely remembered it in later years. I've kept searching for it every now and then but nothing ever came up. (Turns out I had the title wrong... I thought it was "Nurse in the Neighborhood". Eh, I was close!) But today, I stumbled across the book by accident (God bless goodreads!) and now am so happy I've found it! Not because I remember loving it or want to read it again... but it's been haunting me for quite some time now. Finally my mind can rest!


....Actually, scratch that. My mind can't rest yet. There are still a couple more nameless books that are haunting me. Gah!!!

[Maria Elmvang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just like with the Anne series, the later books are more about Sue's kids than about herself. Unlike Anne though, this switch doesn't seem strained, as we still hear of the children's experiences through the eyes of Sue, rather than through them themselves. I never thought I should say it, but Montgomery could have learned something from this. Too bad chronology didn't allow it ;) Still my least favourite of the lot though.

Honestly though, the further I get into this series, the less I understand why I haven't read the last 4 books in so many years. No, they're not nearly as good as the first 3, but neither are they nearly as bad as I remembered them. I'm greatly enjoying this read-through.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's just not the same as Student Nurse, Senior Nurse or Visiting Nurse, even Rural Nurse had more to it. This just seemed like a quaint 40s novel of a woman realising she's fully utilised as a mother. Of course, it's still cute and I love Sue!

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read these books as a preteen and loved them. They seemed so grown up and Sue always seemed to overcome her difficulties. And of course the lovely Bill...
Sweet,

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one of the transitional books in the series (it seems like there might be more of them than ones with what could be called an actual plot) that moves Sue from one setting to another. Here she's a mom with three kids, putting her skills to work in her "neighborhood" (I see what u did thar), but she's mostly unofficial, as opposed to be a visiting nurse. This book goes largely along the lines of "Event A happened, then Event B, then Event C," and the events are basically unconnected, except for a few repeating themes that run throughout. The writing is still fun and the dialogue still snappy, which keeps it from becoming overwrought or preachy. Marianne has been pretty much written out of the series at this point, other than occasional references or phone calls, and honestly, I'm just as glad. She was getting annoying.

I appreciate this book's focus on Sue's struggle between her occupation as nurse and her occupation as mother, going back and forth between where she's suited best, and worrying that all of her years of training are being "wasted" as a mother. I thought it was a realistic concern, and one that was handled fairly, especially given the time period. I do, however, find it ironic that at the end of this book she decides that she needs to stay home, and is going to have another baby, and at the start of the next she decides she has to go back to work. There are extenuating circumstances for the decision, but when you read the books back to back it really stands out.

[Donna Tarver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books. The story is just a nice straightforward story about a woman’s life as a nurse, a wife, and mother. Of course the ideas of home and family are old fashioned, but really mostly in a good way. The only one I disagreed with (due to my modern sensibilities) was the man she found a job for so the wife could stop working and take care of her children because the man just couldn’t do it right. But overall just a good book. I’ve read most of this series and plan to finish it.

[Shirley Antee · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Astrid Johanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gift med lægen, er umulig at ligge fra sig, før man er helt færdig med den. Da jeg var færdig sad jeg med et smil på læben. Gift med lægen er ligeså god som dens forgængere

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books are marvelously well written and I have raved about them in previous reviews. This one's another good one -- they're all very good. One thing I noticed that I found fascinating is that unlike modern serial novels that start right out with a rehash of who the character is and blah blah blah -- this short little bio that they give you basically, often hard to follow and remember, Helen Boylston instead finds a pretext within the first few chapters of the story, but not immediately, for the character to be reflecting on her past. She's digging around in a closet perhaps and finding some old photographs or something happens to remind her of a series of events which she then reflects on while you get to hear about stuff that happened between then and the last book or just little things that you might not know if you're reading the books out of order . It's a very clever unobtrusive technique that is Woven through the story after she has already drawn you in with current events, and is much more pleasant than these hard-nosed, brief rehashes that so many authors in series indulge in.

[Pfotenstaben · Rating 4 out of 5]

The before-last volume of this series was another fond trip down reading memory lane, and I enjoyed it very much. The story is a great continuation of Sue's life, and I already as a teen I found it very interesting to see how a professional woman would integrate her job into her married life - considering it was pretty much the norm back then that married women with kids would remain at home. The story is well-written and well-plotted out and an enjoyable read. Still it's my least favourite book of the series by a small margin, for the very personal reason that it contains too little let's call it "nursing content" for my personal taste, which I loved the series for already as a teen, and still do.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleverly written!

This book picks up about 6 years after Book 5, which is a clever way of avoiding WWII. It also a wonderful book for those who want affirmation as to what is truly important in life.

[Charlotte]

this was never my favorite book, because it's more family than nursing. When I first read the book, when I was 9 or so, I thought Cal was almost a grown up. She's actually only 14, and every time I re-read the book, she seems younger to me....

[Mai · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good. Sue doing what she does best, even if there's not much nursing in it.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading the entire Sue Barton series as a child and loving them all

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tolerable entry in the series because there's not too much of Dr. Bill Barry, He Who Knows Everything and Why Won't You Shut Up So He Can Tell You About It.

[Connie Glasgow]

Sadly only one more left. Thanks mama for reading this while you were pregnant with me, now I know why I was named Connie.