womens fiction

If you read Sadako you will be amazed at the wonderful story it was exciting and sad. It is about a girl who was a baby when the atom bomb hit Hiroshima. Years later, Sadako got leukemia from the atom bomb. Her friend told her that if she made 1,000 paper cranes she would get well. I also liked the story because Sadako never gives up. When I finished reading Sadako I tried making a paper crane. Finish the story "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes". Find out if she gets to make the thousand paper cranes. "She was part of that warm, loving circle where she would always be."

Inspired by a real incident after the bombing of Hiroshima, this short tale flows easily along and can be read in one sitting. Much more than a grim reminder of the horrors of atomic war (with a decade of contamination which causes death, crippling and disfigurement to its victims), this story offers hope insted of condemnation.

Ten-year-old Sadako is very active, dreaming of representing her school on the track team. Until she starts experiencing dizziness and other odd symptoms, which she hides from her family as long as she can. Ultimately she is hospitalized with the "atom bmomb disease," which causes her great physical and emotional pain, as her tender life is soon to be senselessly cut short. Must she die so young and unfulfilled, a decade after the day that stopped history? Is there no end to the list of civilian Japanese casualties?

Then her faithful girlfriend suggests a method--based on superstition--to distract her and pass the time in bed: folding 1000 paper cranes (the Japanese art called Origami). Her brother even offers to hang them. Can such a repetitive act really conquer the curse upon this innocent girl, as folklore insists? Will she live long enough to complete her self-appointed task? This short and touching read inspired both school children of Japan and later many adults to honor her commitment to life and beauty, to trust and hope. Written in a style for younger readers, the message of SADAKO will reach out to senstitive humans of all ages.

I received this book free as a child when another one of my books (from a school book order) didn't arrive in time. Reading it really made a big impression on me and definitely gave me a perspective of the WWII that I would not have heard about in school. It is a short read, but really gets a lot of great information and emotion in that short space. To me this book is just as important reading as the Diary of Anne Frank.