Resources for
Families & Students

Finder’s Creatures: Bog Gone! and Finder’s Creatures: Alarm at the Farm!, P. Knuckle Jones (Rebecca & Kevin Kelly)

This series of graphic novels for children in grades K–5 features creative graphics, lots of puns, and a great group of characters. Kids won’t even realize how much they learn because they’ll have so much fun reading. Plus, there are plenty of hidden references that adults will enjoy.

The Extraordinary Escape, Jonah Fugo

This book covers the struggles that little ones have when their feelings are too big for them to handle. Set in a magical dreamscape with beautiful illustrations, this is a great choice for elementary-aged kids.

100 Things to Do in Syracuse Before You Die, Linda Lowen

The ultimate bucket list for people living in or visiting the Salt City, this book covers a little bit of everything—from regional dishes to festive events. Find what you shouldn’t miss in Syracuse, New York.

Haunted Central New York, Dennis Webster

From the edge of the Adirondacks to the heart of Syracuse, this book boasts some of the most haunted history in the state. Utica, Rome and Cazenovia all have historic tales of ghostly moments and unexplained apparitions.

Dreams of Freedom, Marilyn Higgins

Aileen O’Malley, age 20, flees Ireland to the Syracuse area in search of her father, an indentured servant. She fears the oppression in her homeland and faces violence, slave-catchers, charlatans, and tragedy as she carves a life and—after she sees two runaway slaves, man and woman, take their own lives to escape re-capture—joins the Abolitionist Movement. She collaborates with Frederick Douglass on his trip to Ireland, works with Elizabeth Cady Stanton on women’s rights, and becomes a cunning operative with Gerrit Smith and Stephen Myers on the last leg of escape to Canada via the Underground Railroad.

Jada Jones, Rock Star, Kelly Starling Lyons

When Jada’s best friend moves away, school feels like the last place she wants to be. She’d much rather wander outside looking for cool rocks to add to her collection, since finding rocks is much easier than finding friends. So, when Jada’s teacher announces a class project on rocks and minerals, Jada finally feels like she’s in her element. See what happens. This early chapter book by the award-winning children’s author and former Syracuse Newspapers reporter is the first in a six-book series that bridges the gap between leveled readers and chapter books to ease the transition for developing readers to a chapter book format.

Grandma Found a Gecko, Vincent F. A. Golphin

The whole neighborhood hears the cries, as this story will reprise in a delightful tale guaranteed to draw snickers, giggles and belly laughs from two- to 10-year-olds, and more than a smile from readers who are older. It is a childhood memory of an epic contest between human and reptile natures that ends in mutual satisfaction. This early reader by the Jamesville resident, as well as ex-Syracuse University adjunct professor and writer and columnist for the Syracuse Newspapers, holds an Amazon and Goodreads five-star rating.

Naked: Be Brave Enough to Live Your Best Life, Sarah Dulany-Gring

A collection of stories that millennial women can relate to, it traverses a path from self-neglect to self-honoring. “The talks about is what I want to talk about,” the author states. From the smallest of life’s moments—a ceramic cup, a hug, a bagel—to life’s inexhaustible journeys—change, growth, love—the book holds them all equally, bringing a level of emotional introspection and deeper wisdom that holds no pretense.

The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

One of fourteen books that weave a timeless tale of adventure, friendship, and self-discovery by an author born and raised in Chittenango. This volume follows young Dorothy, a farm girl in Kansas, as she is swept away by a cyclone to the magical Land of Oz, where she journeys with her companions the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion to meet the mysterious Wizard.

When I Hear Spirituals, Cheryl Willis Hudson and London Ladd

The award-winning children’s picture book explores Black history, heritage, and deep human emotions through a young girl’s reaction to timeless African American spirituals. London Ladd, a Syracuse University and Corcoran High School graduate, is the book’s illustrator. His evocative illustrations help weave songs into four seminal moments in African American history: Harriet Tubman’s rescue missions, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement, the Great Migration, and the Enslaved People’s Uprising of 1811.

A Passion for Equality: George Wiley and the Movement, Nick Kotz and Mary Lynn Kotz

A Passion for Equality traces the life of George Wiley, one of the most original and controversial leaders of the social movements of the 1960s and early 1970s. Beyond Wiley’s personal story, the book illuminates a stormy period of American history, which witnessed the rise of the civil rights and welfare rights movements. Wiley, who in 1960 came to Syracuse University to take a job as an assistant professor in the chemistry department, was only the third Black faculty member at SU, following in the footsteps of Dr. James Birnie and Dr. Charles V. Willie. Wiley helped establish the Syracuse chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality and organized thousands of poor women into his National Welfare Rights Organization.