CM Magazine: SADAKO Teachers' Guide

________________ CM . . . . Volume I Number XII . . . . September 1, 1995

SADAKO Teachers' Guide
Naomi Watkan.
Victoria, B.C.: Pacific-Rim Publishers, 1995. 25pp, paper, $9.95
ISBN 0-921358-23-7.

Subject Headings:
Coerr, Eleanor. Sadako and the thousand paper cranes.
Hiroshima-shi (Japan)-History-Bombardment, 1945-Study and teaching.
Japan-Social life and customs-Study and teaching (Elementary).

Grades 4 - 7 / Ages 9 - 12.
Review by Elinor M. Kelly.

Sadako is the well-known classic about the little girl who lived in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped. Sadako developed leukemia and began folding origami paper-cranes, in the hope that if she could finish one thousand cranes she would survive -- but died before she could complete her task.

This teacher's guide for Sadako (which itself is available in different, inexpensive editions) presents twelve activity sheets to teach students about Japanese customs -- from their beds to their religion, haiku poetry, and so on -- and about the atomic bomb: the facts and the rights and wrongs.

This is a timely book given that this summer has seen the fiftieth anniversary of the dropping of the bomb, and it provides useful guidelines for discussion of the subject by children.

Sadako and her classmates, who folded the rest of her cranes after her death and raised the money for her statue in Hiroshima, are famous throughout Japan and to travellers world-wide. The crane has become a symbol not only of long life but of peace. If this guide helps to present the subject and encourage useful discussion, it's well worth its price.

Recommended.

Elinor M. Kelly is a retired librarian who lives in Port Hope, Ontario.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - September 1, 1995.