In my upcoming novel Carry Me Home (August 24, Simon & Schuster) my main character, Lulu, and her sister Serena and their dad live in a car. When dad disappears Lulu feels the pressure of taking care of herself and Serena, while keeping their predicament hidden.

Lulu wants her dad to return, and she wants a home, and she had just begun to find her own gifts in a new school with new friends, but things look bleak. When she learns about the Japanese belief that by making 1000 origami paper cranes a wish will come true, Lulu begins to make paper cranes, hoping for any and all of these wishes – for a home, for her dad, for a stable life in their new town – to come true.

Although China, among other cultures, also developed paper folding, it was Japan that took paper folding to the level of an art form and gave it the name “origami”. I discovered origami as a child and fell in love with it. Origami can be tricky, and takes some practice, but it’s also satisfying.

You can make all sorts of animals and objects with origami, and origami kits are available an most indie booksellers.

You can download these instructions that I pulled together from several sources – including photographs of the paper crane I made – to make your own origami crane.

I’d love to see yours if you want to share!