Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes Author:Eleanor Coerr, Ronald Himler (Illustrator) For twenty-five years, middle-grade readers have been moved by this telling of Sadako Sasaki's spirited battle with leukemia. She was two-years-old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II, and dizzy spells began when she was twelve. She faced the disease with an irrepressible spirit and focused her energy (and ... more »that of everyone who knew her) on folding 1000 paper cranes, which Japanese legend held would prompt the gods to make her well again. Eleanor Coerr crafted this story of Sadako's twelfth year after reading the book of her letters her classmates compiled after her death.
This special edition contains a bio of Eleanor Coerr with details about her work on this book and instructions for folding paper cranes.« less
This is a great book. My children were really interested in reading more about the bombing of Japan when were through. We are doing a WWII unit study so this fit right in with our book list. They have a section in the back that gives instructions for making origami cranes.
Based on a true story about a girl that was born in Hiroshima, Japan. She developes Leukemia from the radiation and recalls a Japanese legend. So she sets out to fold 1000 paper cranes. Good book we enjoyed reading about the Japanese customs.
I loved this book when I read it for the first time as a child & I loved it reading it again as an adult. It really puts a human face on the after effects of war.