Cranes of Hope: A Tribute at the Children's Peace Monument
Characters:
- Narrator: A helpful guide who explains the history.
- Maya: A curious student visiting Hiroshima for the first time.
- Kenji: A local student who knows the history of the park.
- Hana: A thoughtful student who loves origami.
Narrator: Under a bright blue sky in Hiroshima, Japan, three students stand in a quiet park. They are looking up at a tall, three-legged monument. At the very top is a bronze statue of a young girl holding a giant, golden paper crane toward the heavens.
Maya: (Squinting upward) It is even more beautiful than I imagined. Is this the monument dedicated to Sadako Sasaki?
Kenji: Yes, Maya. This is the Children's Peace Monument. It was built to honor Sadako and all the children who lost their lives because of the atomic bomb.
Hana: (Holding a colorful paper crane) I have read about Sadako. She was only two years old when the bomb dropped in 1945. She survived the blast, but ten years later, she became very sick with a disease likely linked to her exposure to radiation from the bomb.
Narrator: Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia, a serious disease of the blood. While she was in the hospital, her father told her about an ancient Japanese legend.
- monument:
- A statue, building, or structure built to honor a special person or event.
- leukemia:
- A serious disease of the blood and bone marrow.
- radiation:
- Energy that travels as waves or particles. Some forms, including ionizing radiation from an atomic bomb, can harm living cells.
- origami:
- The traditional Japanese art of folding paper into decorative shapes and figures.
More sheets from this passage
Built from the text itself — answer key included where it counts.
fix the sentence
Sentences from the passage with the capitals and punctuation removed — rewrite each one correctly.
vocabulary
Match the passage words to their meanings, then fill the missing words back into real sentences.
writing prompts
Two writing tasks that build on the passage, with plenty of lines to write on.
- All 6 sheets as one workbook
One PDF with a cover, contents page and every answer key at the back.
Where this passage belongs
About this reader's theater passage for Upper Elementary
“Cranes of Hope: A Tribute at the Children's Peace Monument” is a reader's theater reading passage about Sadako Sasaki and the Peace Cranes of Hiroshima, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 4 minutes to read (526 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.