Sadako

About Sadako

In this reinvention of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, images by Caldecott medalist Ed Young and new text by Eleanor Coerr come together to inspire children of all ages. 

In her novel Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Eleanor Coerr told the moving story of Sadako and her brave struggle against leukemia, the “atom-bomb disease,” which she developed when she was twelve, just ten years after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

The novel became a classic, and when Sadako’s story was to be made into a film, Caldecott medalist Ed Young was asked to do the illustrations. With love and commitment, he created nearly 300 hauntingly beautiful pastels which bring to life the spirit of Sadako, her courage and her strength.


“A masterful collaboration that will attract many new friends for Sadako.”—School Library Journal

“Coerr’s condensed text succeeds in retaining the simple lyricism of the original, allowing the leukemia-stricken Sadako to emerge as a quietly courageous girl.”—Publishers Weekly