Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

By: Eleanor Coerr

Multicultural and International Literature

Sadako is a young girl living in Hiroshima in the aftermath of the atomic bomb. In 1954, Sadako is diagnosed with leukemia, despite the fact that she was only an infant when the bomb dropped. While in the hospital, her friend Chizuko tells her about an old story which said if a sick person folded one thousand paper cranes, the gods will grant that person the wish to get healthy again. So Sadako beings the journey of folding paper cranes as she continues to get sicker and sicker. She successfully made six hundred forty-four before she passed away.
I could use this book to teach both about the Japanese culture and the effects of the atomic bomb on the people who lived there. I would have a discussion with the class about what it would feel like to be in Japan in 1954, when numerous people were getting sick because of the atomic bomb, despite the fact that years had passed. Afterwards, I would have them all make a paper crane in honor of Sadako and all the others who passed away because of the atomic bombs.