Guest Author - Lisa Shea


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When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, Sadako Sasaki was only 2 years old. She knew little of world politics or wars. All she knew is that her young life was destroyed. She developed leukemia as she grew up.

Sadako latched on to the legend of the crane, and the tradition that if she folded 1,000 cranes she would be granted her dearest wish. Her wish was for world peace. As she lay in her hospital bed she folded crane after crane, hoping her wish would come true. Unfortunately, the leukemia was too much for her young body and at age 12 she died. Her classmates folded the remaining cranes, and she was buried with her full 1,000 cranes.

If you are wishing goodbye to a loved one, or hoping for a happy ending to a project, those thousand cranes might be a way to commemerate the attempt.

Recommended Reading

Wings and Things: Origami That Flies, by Stephen Weiss

Complete Origami: an A-Z of Facts and Folds, With Step-By-Step Instructions for over 100 Projects, by Eric Kenneway

Origami by Anne Akers Johnson

Product Resource Guide

Origami Paper, 24 7" x 7" Sheets in 12 Colors

Large Origami Paper by Dover Publications Inc, 24 9" X 9" Sheets in 12 Colors

Pacon Origami Paper, Pack Of 55 Sheets

Out of time? Buy Handmade Origami Cranes, by Lisa Shea