Summary:
Hiroshima-born Sadako is lively and athletic--the star of her school's running team. And then the dizzy spells start. Soon gravely ill with leukemia, the "atom bomb disease," Sadako faces her future with spirit and bravery. Recalling a Japanese legend, Sadako sets to work folding paper cranes. For the legend holds that if a sick person folds one thousand cranes, the gods will grant her wish and make her healthy again.
My review:
Growing up and being a historian, I have always know about the bombing of Hiroshima. I knew it was dropped to end WWII. This is a known fact the world over. What is not always known, nor thought of, is what long-term effect it had on the people (the innocent) of Hiroshima.
This is the story of a young girl and her family who lived through such an atrocity. It saddens me on a different level than the Japanese people but also gives me hope for world peace.
Many of the children in the Red Cross hospital that Sadako eventually ended up at, never left. They were all inflicted with leukemia and other diseases that ravaged their small bodies. One boy mentioned in the book contracted leukemia due to his mother carrying the disease before he was born, well after the bomb dropping.
Sadako's friend told her the legend of the thousand paper cranes and gave her the first one which was golden. Sadako prayed every time she made a crane, paper given to her by many different people. Many were hung on her ceiling and some in her hospital room. Eventually she got too weak to make them and before dying had made 644.
Her classmates made the rest of the cranes in her honor. Today a statue stands in honor of Sadako and every year on " Japanese Peace Day" thousands of cranes can be seen at the foot of the statue. I would like to see this statue someday and maybe leave my own crane there.
In the back of the book, you can find step-by-step instructions on how to make a paper crane.
Disclosure: I purchased this book for my own collections. The view here is 100% my own and may vary from yours. ~Michelle
Activities:
1. Attempt to make 1000 cranes before International Peace Day which is Sept. 21st.
2. Read more about Japanese Peace Day
3. Visit the Sadako Statue in Japan
4. Make your own "shrine" for peace
5. Read more about International Peace Day
Where to find the author:
The author died in 2010. She was totally fascinated with the Japanese culture. She had a friend in High school that was Japanese and taught her about origami and many traditional things of the culture.
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