One Thousand Paper Cranes: The Story of Sadako and the Children's Peace Statue by Ishii Takayuki

Product Details

Synopsis

The inspirational story of the Japanese national campaign to build the Children's Peace Statue honoring Sadako and hundreds of other children who died as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima.

Ten years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Sadako Sasaki died as a result of atomic bomb disease. Sadako's determination to fold one thousand paper cranes and her courageous struggle with her illness inspired her classmates. After her death, they started a national campaign to build the Children's Peace Statue to remember Sadako and the many other children who were victims of the Hiroshima bombing. On top of the statue is a girl holding a large crane in her outstretched arms. Today in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, this statue of Sadako is beautifully decorated with thousands of paper cranes given by people throughout the world.

KLIATT

This story of a little girl named Sadako Sasaki and her death from what is called the Atomic Bomb Disease will tug at your heart and also terrify you, as it makes clear the horrible toll war takes on families. Sadako was two years old when an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Her family suffered terribly but they managed to survive. Nine years later Sadako was an active girl who loved to run and go to school, but then she developed symptoms of leukemia and went downhill rapidly. While in the hospital she started folding paper cranes, wishing on them for better health. When she died at 12, she had folded over a thousand of these cranes. Her classmates sponsored a national campaign to build a memorial, and today in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park there is a statue with a girl on top holding a large crane. It is a memorial to all the children who died from the bombing at Hiroshima. This book about Sadako, a tribute to a little girl and her friends, is a reminder to all of us that war is a terrible thing. KLIATT Codes: J—Recommended for junior high school students. 1997, Random House/Dell Laurel-Leaf, 97p, illus, 18cm, $4.99. Ages 13 to 15. Reviewer: Barbara Jo McKee; Libn/Media Dir. Streetsboro H.S. Stow, OH, May 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 3)

Biography

Takayuki Ishii was born in Tokyo. He is presently the pastor of Metropolitan-Duane United Methodist Christ, a multicultural congregation in New York City.