Eleanor Coerr (May 29, 1922 – November 22, 2010) was a Canadian-born American writer of children's books, including Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes is a non-fiction children's book written by American author Eleanor Coerr and published in 1977.This true story is of a girl, Sadako Sasaki, who lived in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing by the United States...

.

She was born in Kamsack

Kamsack

-External links:* * in Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan*...

, Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

, Canada, and raised in Saskatoon

Saskatoon

Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....

. As a child, she liked to think up and read new stories. Through her best friend in high school, who was born to Japanese immigrants, Coerr developed an interest in calligraphy

Calligraphy

Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...

, Japanese food, and origami

Origami

is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since then evolved into a modern art form...

. She was exposed to Japanese scenery and told her that she wished to visit Japan one day, a request which Coerr fulfilled during the writing of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.

She attended the University of Saskatchewan

University of Saskatchewan

The University of Saskatchewan is a Canadian public research university, founded in 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. An "Act to establish and incorporate a University for the Province of Saskatchewan" was passed by the...

, later transferring to the Kadel Airbrush School. She earned a bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in English from American University

American University

American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...

, and a master's degree

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in library science from the University of Maryland

University of Maryland

When the term "University of Maryland" is used without any qualification, it generally refers to the University of Maryland, College Park.University of Maryland may refer to the following:...

. After graduation, Coerr worked as a newspaper reporter and editor

Editor

The term editor may refer to:As a person who does editing:* Editor in chief, having final responsibility for a publication's operations and policies* Copy editing, making formatting changes and other improvements to text...

 of a children's column. She taught children's literature at Monterey Peninsula College

Monterey Peninsula College

Monterey Peninsula College commonly called MPC is a public community college located in Monterey, California. Established in 1947, it is a part of the California Community Colleges system.-External links:*...

 and creative writing at Chapman College in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

She was married to Wymberly De Renne Coerr (1913–1996) from 1965 until his death from Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...

 in 1996. He was a career diplomat, and she traveled with him to a number of countries, including foreign posts in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, and Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. Coerr both wrote and illustrated her first book in 1945, although she did not begin to publish her work until the 1970s. Her later work included children's books, philanthropy, and giving lectures at American universities and overseas. After Wymberly's death, she became more reclusive and stayed at private residences in Pebble Beach, California

Pebble Beach, California

Pebble Beach is an unincorporated community in Monterey County, California. It lies at an elevation of 3 feet . Pebble Beach is a small coastal resort destination, home to the famous golf course, Pebble Beach Golf Links....

 and Henderson, Nevada

Henderson, Nevada

-Demographics:According to the 2000 census, there were 175,381 people, 66,331 households, and 47,095 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,200.8 people per square mile . There were 71,149 housing units at an average density of 892.8 per square mile...

.

Coerr died on November 22, 2010 at the age of 88. Both she and Wymberly were cremated.

Books

• Twenty-five dragons (1971)
• Biography of a Giant Panda (1974)
• Biography of a Kangaroo (1976)
• Jane Goodall (1976)
• Waza Wins at Windy Gulch (1977)
• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
  Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
  Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes is a non-fiction children's book written by American author Eleanor Coerr and published in 1977.This true story is of a girl, Sadako Sasaki, who lived in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing by the United States...
  
  (1977)
• The mixed-up mystery smell (1980)
• The Bell Ringer and the Pirates (1983)
• The Big Balloon Race (1984)
• Lady with a Torch: How the Statue of Liberty Was Born (1986)
• Chang's Paper Pony (1993)
• Sam the Minuteman (1995)
• Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express (1996)
• Sadako (1997)
• Prairie School (2003)
• Mieko and the Fifth Treasure (2003)
• Josefina Story Quilt (Spanish
  Spanish language
  Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
  
  : Josefina y la colcha de retazos) (2006)