Contact: Debbie Carton
Art & Music Librarian
Berkeley Public Library
510-981-6236
Celebrate Peace Day Making Origami Cranes at the Berkeley Public Library
Berkeley, July 23, 2014— On Hiroshima Peace Day, people from around the world stop to remember the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and do what they can to stop it from happening again. Since 1995, the Berkeley Public Library has celebrated Peace Day with a reading of Eleanor Coerr’s Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. This year’s program will take place in the Children’s department on the fourth floor of the Central Library located at 2090 Kittredge (at Shattuck) on Tuesday, August 5, from 4:00-6:30 p.m.
Coerr’s critically acclaimed children’s book tells the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Hiroshima resident who was two years old when the bomb fell. Sadako died ten years later from leukemia caused by the radiation from the bomb. Before she died, she tried to fold 1000 paper cranes, as legend has it that doing so will make her wish come true. Sadako folded 644 cranes before her death. Today people everywhere fold cranes and send them to the statue of Sadako Sasaki that stands in Hiroshima’s Peace Park.
Members of Berkeley Public Library’s Playreaders groups will read aloud the story, accompanied by original music composed for the occasion by celebrated koto players Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto and Brian Mitsuhiro Wong. After the performance, audience members are invited to join in folding paper cranes. There will be help for those who have never folded a crane before, but people who know how to fold cranes and can show others are especially welcome. For questions regarding this program, please call 510-981-6236.
This free program is sponsored by the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library www.berkeleylibraryfriends.org.
The Central Library is located at 2090 Kittredge Avenue and is open Monday, noon - 8 pm, Tuesday, 10 am - 8 pm, Wednesday through Saturday, 10 am - 6 pm, and Sunday from 1 pm - 5 pm.
Wheelchair accessible. For questions, to request a sign language interpreter or other accommodations for this event, please call (510) 981-6195 (voice) or (510) 548-1240 (TTY); at least five working days will help ensure availability. Please refrain from wearing scented products to public programs. Visit the library’s website: www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.
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