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1-Page Summary of Sadako And The Thousand Paper Cranes
Overall Summary
Prologue
The author of the novel tells us that she has based her work on a little girl who was born in Japan during World War II. The real-life Sadako survived the atomic bomb dropped by the United States Air Force and, ten years later, died from leukemia caused by radiation from the bomb. Ten years after Sadako’s death, Japanese children began to tell stories about her bravery in dealing with war, illness and death.
Chapter 1
Sadako Sasaki was born to become a runner. She learned how to run before she could walk, and one day in 1954, when she was 14 years old, Sadako ran out into the street. It was a beautiful day that morning, so she knew it would be a good day for her. This gave her hope and brought peace of mind since she liked seeing signs of good luck around her all the time. However, after running outside that morning on Peace Day (a holiday), Sadako came back inside because it had started raining hard. She woke up her siblings and told them about Peace Day being such a nice day for everyone except them because they were stuck indoors due to the rainstorm outside that prevented them from going anywhere or doing anything fun on this special holiday dedicated to peace in their country Japan during World War II. Her older brother Masahiro didn’t want to get out of bed at first but he got up anyway when he smelled his favorite food—bean soup cooking downstairs in the kitchen. He loved eating bean soup more than anything else so he went down there with his younger sister Eiji who is six years old and also loves eating bean soup as well just like his big brother Masahiro does. Meanwhile upstairs Mitsue helped put away all their quilts/bedding/blankets into an open closet upstairs where they keep all their stuff including some clothing items like shirts, pants, socks, etc..
Sadako runs into the kitchen, excited for Peace Day. She wants to go to a carnival, but her mother scolds her because she should know better than that. Her father comes in and tells Sadako that she must respect what happened on that day—her grandmother was killed by an atom bomb when it hit Hiroshima. Sadako insists she does respect her grandmother every morning when she prays for her spirit.
In the morning, Mr. Sasaki wakes his family up at 4:45 AM for their prayers. He prays that he is grateful for all of his blessings in life and thanks the spirits of his ancestors to be at peace. Next, he asks for protection from leukemia—a deadly disease affecting many people in Hiroshima even though it happened nine years ago when an atomic bomb was dropped on the city—as well as other diseases related including cancer due to radiation poisoning from the blast.
Sadako eats her breakfast quickly. She thinks about last year’s Peace Day and imagines what this one will be like. After she finishes eating, she urges Mitsue to help clean up so they can go to the festival as soon as possible. Sadako cleans up while Mitsue washes the dishes, ties ribbons in their hair and stands by the door until it is time to go. But her mother tells them both to sit quietly until it is time to leave for the festival. Sadako sits on the floor near the door with a spider that has just crawled into her lap, but when she tries setting it free outside, her mother tells her not to bother because spiders are unlucky creatures.
Chapter 2
Sadako and her family are walking to the festival, and she is running ahead of them. She tells her friend Chizuko that they should keep up, but Chizuko reminds Sadako that they have been friends since kindergarten. The two girls run off before their parents can catch up with them. Mrs. Sasaki calls after the two girls to make sure they don’t go too fast or get tired out on their walk to the festival. Mr. Sasaki says he’s proud of his daughter because she is a strong runner who never gives up easily.
