sadako and the thousand paper cranes by eleanor coerr

Numata, performs a series of tests, it is determined that Sadako has leukemia-an effect of lingering radiation in the air after the bombing nine years ago. Her father takes her to the Red Cross Hospital, and after the doctor, Dr. In February of the new year, after several weeks of good health, Sadako faints at school while running during recess. After the race, as winter approaches, Sadako trains hard every day, even though the dizzy spells still come on after a long run. As soon as the race is over, though, Sadako is struck by a dizzy spell, and can hardly even enjoy her great success. As she trains for the race her friends and family support and encourage her, and on the big day, Sadako runs hard and wins big.

One fall day Sadako comes home with wonderful news-she has been picked to race on her class’s relay race team, which will up her chances at making the junior high racing team the following year. At the end of the evening, Sadako and her family lower paper lanterns into the river to commemorate those they have lost, and Sadako heads home feeling that good luck is indeed all around her. As Sadako moves through the festival, she eats and drinks and laughs with her friends, but also sees many people who bear horrible scars and disfigurations. On Peace Day-an annual festival in remembrance of the victims of the atom bomb that was dropped on the city nine years before at the end of World War II-Sadako joins her family and her best friend Chizuko at the Peace Park to mourn the dead and celebrate the life that still goes on in Hiroshima. She approaches everything in life with excitement and positivity, and is constantly on the lookout for “good luck signs” and other small auspicious details in the world around her. Sadako is a born runner who dreams of joining her junior high school’s racing team next year. Eleven-year-old Sadako Sasaki lives with her mother, father, and siblings in Hiroshima, Japan.

Sadako and the thousand paper cranes by eleanor coerr