The Last Paper Crane
As seen:
By Kerry Drewery, and and, Natsko Seki
avg rating
9 reviews
Nominated for the 2021 CILIP Carnegie Medal, joint winner of the UKLA 11-14 Book Award 2021 and winner of the Warwickshire Schools Library Award.
‘I loved this book … Kerry’s writing is beautiful, lyrical and poetic and has created a story that manages to be heart-warming and life-affirming whilst covering one of the most devastating events of the last century.’ Liz Kessler, author of When the World was Ours
A Japanese teenager, Mizuki, is worried about her grandfather. He tells Mizuki that he has never recovered from something that happened in his past … gently Mizuki persuades him to tell her what it is.
We are taken to 1945, Hiroshima, and Mizuki’s grandfather as a teenage boy at home with his friend Hiro. Moments later the horrific nuclear bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. The blinding flash, the harrowing search for family and the devastation both human and physical is searingly told as the two teenage boys search for and find Keiko, Hiro’s five-year-old sister. But then Mizuki’s grandfather has no option but to leave Keiko in a safe place while he goes for help… and then Keiko is lost. Despite a desperate hunt in the immediate aftermath, where he leaves origami folded paper cranes with his address on everywhere a survivor could be, Keiko remains lost..
Can Mizuki help after all these years? A powerful novel that, despite its harrowing subject matter, has hope at its heart.
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Part novel, part verse novel, part haiku and illustrated this book is set in modern day Japan and Hiroshima 1945. It is an emotional read that is enhanced by the red, black and white illustrations throughout.
Some would argue that it is not her story to tell but the author makes it clear at the start of the book that she is not Japanese and she’s not lived through these events but she has completed a detailed level of research and feels very passionately about telling this story.
A very interesting and intriguing book! I did not previously know much about Hiroshima and the atomic bomb so found this book informative. I really loved the illustrations throughout the book and the fact the story is told using poetry. I would definitely recommend the book to others!
I had mixed feelings about this book, which was recommended to me by the librarian. It's set in Hiroshima before, during and after the United States detonated a nuclear weapon over the city. Although I enjoy historical fiction, I did not like the idea of reading about this past event from a (fictional) victim's perspective. However, the librarian promised me that the story ends happily. The book is also beautifully packaged and presented: the cover has an embossed image on the front, and the binding seems to be of a higher quality than most paperbacks. As it turns out, I read the book in one night. I got the impression from the author's note at the beginning, and then from the story itself, that this was a labour of love, in remembrance of all the people who were affected by the Hiroshima bombing. It's well-researched and complemented by several illustrations. Recommended reading!
Excellently told story, the free verse sections were compelling and intense. Read in one sitting. The main character was complex, human and the story was more authentic for having the character be shown as human and not perfect. I would like to know more about Keiko's story now. Would definitely recommend .
I chose this book as was intrigued by the paper crane instructions in the back. The combination of free verse and narrative make for a haunting poetic story which makes you read on and hope for a happy ending. It was a beautiful albeit heartbreaking book to read.
The last paper crane is a book set in Japan telling the story of when the nuclear bomb was dropped (by Americans during a war) on Hiroshima. This book is a very sad book because it shows how difficult people's lives where during the bomb was dropped and how much it affected not just people's lives at that time but for the rest of their lives. The last paper crane was aimed to retell the true story of Sasaki Sadako. It interested me to learn more of wage really happened and to see how much people where affected. I would definitely recommend this devastating and heart warming story to other people but maybe to those a bit older.
Such a beautiful book, both in terms of the language and the images. I loved the Japanese feel of the book. This was two stories in one and I was initially a bit concerned that the two timescales and the poetry would feel awkward, but they didn't at all and the poetry was simple and would stand up well on its own. The 'story' of Hiroshima was woven in to the main narrative of the main character, Hiro, trying to find the little girl he promised to look after, Keiko, so that it was real and raw but the narrative kept moving forward and the end offered some optimism.
Powerful, emotional read about Hiroshima and its legacy on people as well as environment.
This book moved me
I was excited to read ‘The last paper crane my from the moment I saw it, and once it arrived it would have been easy to have devoured the whole book there and then, not just because I was excited but because it moved so freely, I particular liked the way the author transitioned between narrative, prose, haikus, and illustration, for me it transported me into the novel, the culture, and I felt like I was discovering. Normally when most people hear about Hiroshima, it’s in a detached, historical way, but ‘The last paper crane’ has changed that for me, like the authors herself said it is too important to be forgotten, and this book allows me to connect with the people of Hiroshima, not just then but now. This is a truly beautiful book that I would recommend to everyone, it’s one read that will stay with me for a long time to come, if not forever. This is one book that really stands out to me as one of this years great reads.
