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Eleanor Coerr

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born

Kamsack, Saskatchewan, Canada

gender

female

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Eleanor Coerr was born in Kamsack, Saskatchewan, Canada, and grew up in Saskatoon. Two of her favorite childhood hobbies were reading and making up stories.

Her fascination with Japan began when she received a book called Little Pictures of Japan one Christmas. It showed children in beautiful kimonos playing games, chasing butterflies, and catching crickets. She pored over the colored illustrations, dreaming of one day joining those children in Japan. Her best friend in high school was a Japanese girl whose family introduced her to brush painting, eating with chopsticks, and origami. Eleanor's desire to visit that magical place never faded, and her well-thumbed copy of that favorite book is still in her library.

Eleanor began her professional...more Eleanor Coerr was born in Kamsack, Saskatchewan, Canada, and grew up in Saskatoon. Two of her favorite childhood hobbies were reading and making up stories.

Her fascination with Japan began when she received a book called Little Pictures of Japan one Christmas. It showed children in beautiful kimonos playing games, chasing butterflies, and catching crickets. She pored over the colored illustrations, dreaming of one day joining those children in Japan. Her best friend in high school was a Japanese girl whose family introduced her to brush painting, eating with chopsticks, and origami. Eleanor's desire to visit that magical place never faded, and her well-thumbed copy of that favorite book is still in her library.

Eleanor began her professional life as a newspaper reporter and editor of a column for children. Luckily, she traveled to Japan in 1949 as a writer for the Ottawa Journal, since none of the other staff wanted to go to a country that had been devastated by war. To learn Japanese, Eleanor lived on a farm near Yonago for about one year, absorbing the culture and enjoying rural celebrations. Soon she was able to visit nearby schools and speak to young audiences about her country. Eleanor wrote and illustrated Circus Day in Japan, using the farm family and a visit to the circus as models. It was published in Tokyo in 1953.

Her most difficult trip while she was in Japan was to Hiroshima. Eleanor was shocked by the horrible destruction and death caused by one atom bomb. Of course, she did not know Sadako Sasaki at that time, although she was living there with her family. The misery and suffering Eleanor witnessed was burned into her mind, and she hoped future world leaders would avoid wars at all costs.

One beautiful day in 1963, Eleanor revisited Hiroshima and saw the statue of Sadako in the Hiroshima Peace Park. Impressed by the stories she heard about Sadako's talent for running, courage when faced with cancer, and determination to fold one thousand paper cranes, Eleanor was inspired to find a copy of Kokeshi, Sadako's autobiography.

Eleanor looked everywhere she could think of and asked all of her Japanese friends to help. Since the school had copied the ninety-four pages and stapled them together, most of the books had fallen apart. Years passed, and Eleanor continued writing for newspapers in various countries and wrote more children's books. But she was always hoping to find Kokeshi.

One fateful afternoon, Eleanor was having tea with a missionary who had lived in Hiroshima all through the war.

"Eleanor," she said, "you should write a biography of Sadako Sasaki for American children to read."

"I would love to," said Eleanor, "but I must have Kokeshi to get all the true facts about Sadako."

The missionary took Eleanor to her attic. Lo and behold, at the bottom of an old trunk was an original copy of Kokeshi. Eleanor rushed to have it translated properly and began writing Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes as soon as she could.

"It's like magic. I was meant to write her story," Eleanor said.(less)

combine editions
Books by Eleanor Coerr

Average rating: 4.03 · 4,753 ratings · 537 reviews · 20 distinct works

	Sadako and the thousand paper cranes by Eleanor Coerr, Ronald Himler (Illustrations) 4.06 avg rating — 4,352 ratings — published 1977 — 7 editions	My rating:
	The Big Balloon Race by Eleanor Coerr, Carolyn Croll (Illustrator) 3.72 avg rating — 147 ratings — published 1981 — 7 editions	My rating:
	Sadako by Eleanor Coerr, Ed Young (Illustrator) 4.22 avg rating — 69 ratings — 3 editions	My rating:
	The Josefina Story Quilt by Eleanor Coerr, Bruce Degen (Illustrations) 3.80 avg rating — 64 ratings — published 1986 — 13 editions	My rating:
	Mieko and the Fifth Treasure by Eleanor Coerr, Junko Morimoto (Illustrator) 3.69 avg rating — 58 ratings — published 1993 — 8 editions	My rating:
	Chang's Paper Pony by Eleanor Coerr, Deborah Kogan Ray (Illustrations) 3.55 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 1988 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express by Eleanor Coerr, Don Bolognese (Illustrator) 3.46 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 1995 — 3 editions	My rating:
	S Is for Silver: A Nevada Alphabet 3.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2004	My rating:
	Circus Day in Japan: Bilingual English and Japanese Text by Eleanor Coerr, Yumi Matsunari (Translator) 3.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2010	My rating:
	The Bell Ringer and the Pirates (I Can Read Book) 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — 2 editions	My rating: