This is the same story as the author's Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Putnam, 1977), told through an entirely new text. In this abbreviated version, the beautiful, limpid prose and crisp dialogue further telescope Sadako's fight with leukemia, "the atom-bomb disease," adding greater impact to her death. What was an epilogue in the novel is here an integral, if anticlimactic, part of the text due to the exceptional flow of the illustrations. Young's pastels vividly capture all the moods of the narrative, place, and characters. The use of light, most obvious as Sadako lays dying, is particularly noteworthy, as is the crane motif as a recurring symbol of hope. A masterful collaboration that will attract many new friends for Sadako. John Philbrook, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.