I read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes in elementary school and have never forgotten the story. Reading it as a young child, I didn’t understand that Sadako had been a real person. It was only years later when I was learning world history and about the events of WWII that I understood. Beneath the monument, there is a peace bell that visitors can ring, offering their prayer for world peace and Sadako’s wish for a world without nuclear weapons. Definitely a worthy effort.