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The Adventures of Vicky Barnes and Other Fictional Volunteers
by Susan J. Ellis

Over a year ago, Steve McCurley sent Susan a gift from a local library book sale. It was a copy of the 1966 novel for teens by Alice Ross Colver, Vicky Barnes, Junior Hospital Volunteer: The Story of a Candy Striper. Steve was right that Susan would like this sample of volunteering folklore. How could she not, with dialogue throughout the 171 pages like this:

“I’m accepted!” she breathed. “At least I’m to appear for an Orientation Course next week Monday. Oh, Mother, I’m so terribly happy!” She stopped and ended with a wobbly smile on her face. “Here’s my report card. I got all A’s.”

“And that, if I’m not mistaken,” her mother said smilingly, “is an anticlimax.”

This Voices from the Past shares more of Vicky’s adventures as a volunteer as well as other references from older books for children and teens that shaped all our impressions of what volunteering is and who does it.

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