Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
Loske, J. (1977). Sadako's cranes. Hong Kong: Minedition.
Sadako Sasaki was a Japanese girl living in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. In 1955, at age 11, Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia, a type of cancer caused by the atomic bomb. While in the hospital, Sadako started to fold paper cranes. In Japan, there is a belief that if you folded 1000 paper cranes, then your wish would come true. Sadako spend 14 months in the hospital, folding paper cranes with whatever paper she could get. Paper was scarce so she used the paper from medicine bottles, candy wrappers, and left over gift wrap paper. Her wish was that she would get well again, and to attain peace & healing to the victims of the world. Sadako died on October 25, 1955, she was 12 years old and had folded over 1300 paper cranes. Sadako’s friends and classmates raised money to build a memorial in honor of Sadako and other atomic bomb victims.
I loved this story! It was so poetic in its writing style and conveyed a real sense of hope in the mist of despair. The illustrations do not extend the story by any means. The drawings are black and white and hard to make out. I preferred the writing.
This should be read during a study of WWII to convey the disparity that the war caused. I would only read this with middle school students. The message and events could be disturbing to less mature audiences. The reading level is quite easy though.
