Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

“‘You are eleven years old and should know better,’ she scolded. ‘You must not call it a carnival. Every year on August sixth we remember those who died when the atom bomb was dropped on our city. It is a memorial day.’”

Chapter 1 opens with Sadako preparing for Peace Day with joyful anticipation. Her mother’s scolding shifts the tone and reveals the event’s purpose as a memorial for those who lost their lives to the atomic bomb. This connects to the theme of War’s Impact on Children. Sadako lost her grandmother because of the bomb, and she later develops leukemia from the radiation.

“He prayed that the spirits of their ancestors were happy and peaceful. He gave thanks for his barbershop. He gave thanks for his fine children. And he prayed that his family would be protected from the atom bomb disease called leukemia. Many still died from the disease, even though the atom bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima nine years before. It had filled the air with radiation—a kind of poison—that stayed inside people for a long time.”

Eleanor Coerr’s straightforward sentence structure and heartfelt tone are hallmarks of her style throughout the novel. The author helps her young audience understand radiation poisoning and leukemia by using simple language. Mr. Sasaki’s prayer develops the theme of War’s Impact on Children because it contains the novel’s first reference to “the atom bomb disease called leukemia.” There’s a painful irony and foreshadowing to the disease first appearing in the context of a father’s prayer that his children will be spared. The fear of loved ones succumbing to sickness must weigh heavily on Mr. Sasaki and the other adults living in Hiroshima.