We just finished reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and it’s one to explore for sure. It’s the true story of a young girl that survives the bombing of Hiroshima but later dies from leukemia caused by the exposure. It’s geared toward older elementary age but it had even Bennett entranced and the kids kept asking me to read another chapter until the book was finished. They paused me a few times to ask questions, wondering if it was a true story and if she died and who dropped the bomb. It will certainly bring up some tough questions about war and the role America played, along with questions about cancer and death, but it’s well written without being overwhelming for kids. It may overwhelm the adult attempting to explain things. 🙂 This was also significant for us because my paternal grandfather died from leukemia after time spent in Japan while American forces were there during/after the war. His widow receives VA benefits because they said the exposure was the cause of his leukemia, even decades later.

Really good book, and at the end it has directions for children to fold their own paper cranes.

Update: with the current situation in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami I found this CNN article about a classmate of Sadako’s! She became an oncologist in part because of her experience with the effects of radiation on her classmate – good article.