About the Author

Eleanor Coerr was born in Kamsack, Saskatchewan, Canada, and grew up in Saskatoon. Two of her favorite childhood hobbies were reading and making up stories. Her powerful novel, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, has been translated into many languages and has moved both children and adults to write plays, perform ballets, compose songs, and collect money for peace statues—all celebrating Sadako and her wish for peace. Eleanor has visited schools all around the world encouraging her audiences to work for a nonviolent world. Folded cranes are everywhere, and always underneath the statue of Sadako in Hiroshima's Peace Park.


Caldecott medalist Ed Young (edyoungart.com) was born in Tientsin, China, and brought up in Shanghai. He cites the philosophy of Chinese painting as an inspiration for much of his work. Mr. Young has been illustrating children's books for more than twenty years and has won many awards. He received the 1990 Caldecott Medal for his book Lon Po Po, and his much-lauded collaboration with anthologist Nancy Larrick, Cats Are Cats, was named one of the Ten Best Illustrated Books of 1988 by The New York Times. Mr. Young studied at the University of Illinois, the Art Center of Los Angeles, and Pratt Institute in New York City. He and his family live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Reviews

Praise for Sadako

★ "Coerr uses a quiet, unsentimental voice in her retelling, letting the content of the story speak for itself. And it does, powerfully. Young amplifies the story's vision with his impressionistic pastel artwork illustrating scene after scene with narrative simplicity and emotional depth. A remarkable, moving book." --Booklist (starred review)

★"A masterful collaboration that will attract many new friends for Sadako."—School Library Journal (starred review) 

"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

Gr 2-6-This is the same story as the author's Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Putnam, 1977), told through an entirely new text. In this abbreviated version, the beautiful, limpid prose and crisp dialogue further telescope Sadako's fight with leukemia, ``the atom-bomb disease,'' adding greater impact to her death. What was an epilogue in the novel is here an integral, if anticlimactic, part of the text due to the exceptional flow of the illustrations. Young's pastels vividly capture all the moods of the narrative, place, and characters. The use of light, most obvious as Sadako lays dying, is particularly noteworthy, as is the crane motif as a recurring symbol of hope. A masterful collaboration that will attract many new friends for Sadako.-John Philbrook, San Francisco Public Library

Praise for Sadako

"Coerr uses a quiet, unsentimental voice in her retelling, letting the content of the story speak for itself. And it does, powerfully. Young amplifies the story's vision with his impressionistic pastel artwork illustrating scene after scene with narrative simplicity and emotional depth. A remarkable, moving book." --Booklist (starred review)

"A masterful collaboration that will attract many new friends for Sadako."-School Library Journal (starred review)

"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