I am a member of many different groups on Facebook, as I’m
sure many of you are. One of which I find I participate in more than others and
that group is called BookAholic Café. Recently a member posted a question about
going back and reading or rereading older children’s books as an adult. This is
something I have been doing myself over the past couple of years. Just last
year I read Tuck Everlasting and started the Nancy Drew series. I have also
been re-reading the Little House on the Prairie books as well.
One of the members mentioned re-reading Sadako and theThousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr. This brought back memories for me of
when I read it back in the mid 90’s. It was first introduced to me by one of my
teachers in elementary school, when she read it aloud to my class. Afterwards I
borrowed it from the library and read it aloud with my mom.
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes follows a young Hiroshima
girl who has leukemia, or the “atom bomb disease” as it is also known. Sadako’s
story is absolutely heart wrenching and I still remember the tears that flowed
each time I read it. As I was only young at the time I didn’t even know what
leukemia was, nor did I know of the terrors that occurred when the atom bombs
were dropped on Japan during the Second World War.
Thinking back I now realize that it was from reading Sadako
and the Thousand Paper Cranes that my love for historical fiction began. It
sparked a curiosity in me to learn about different time periods and how
different it was compared to the present day.
Over the past 20 years my love for historical fiction has
grown and evolved to where it is today. But it all began with Eleanor Coerr’s
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.
For the next post in My Historical Fiction Evolution series
I will discuss how it evolved during the years of my youth.
Is there one specific book that kicked off your love for a
certain genre? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
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