Syracuse Track Club Resolution Run

This year we are celebrating Eric Carle, the beloved author and illustrator of many children’s books including "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and "The Grouchy Ladybug." Carle was born in Syracuse in 1929 and spent his younger years in a house near the hill on John Street that is a signature of the Resolution Run. When Eric was only 3, he was photographed in an embrace with a little girl in a white dress in front of a house on that hill. Both Eric’s family and the girl’s family moved away from Syracuse in the mid-1930s.

https://www.syracuse.com/kirst/2014/04/for_renowned_author_eric_carle_an_easter_miracle_after_more_than_80_years_in_tou.html

https://www.syracuse.com/kirst/2015/02/a_miracle_made_real_eric_carle_after_82_years_again_embraces_long-lost_friend.html

Carle held onto the photo for the next seven decades, wondering who that girl was. In the meantime, he became a famous children’s author, with books published in dozens of languages across the world. There is a museum dedicated to his life in Amherst Massachusetts.

In 2013, Carle wrote and illustrated a book called “Friends,” and decided to use the photo as a cornerstone of the book, hoping against all odds it might lead him to the girl - even if the image itself lacked all clues, including any hint of a location. On Easter Sunday the following year, almost 82 years after the photograph was taken, Eric Carle learned his friend was not only alive but ready to chat on the phone. Using historical clues, the internet, and a good dose of luck, staff at the Syracuse newspapers and family members were able to discover that the girl in the photo was  Florence Ciani Trovato. She was 85 and living in Florida. Eric and Florence were ultimately able to meet in person. 

Eric Carle died in 2021, leaving behind a rich legacy of literature and artwork aimed at children, but with universal themes of friendship and compassion.

We invite you to help promote literacy among children by contributing to  Light a Candle for Literacy, an organization based in Syracuse which works to increase awareness of the importance of literacy, encourage summertime, and help parents understand the importance of reading to their children daily. This past September LCL held a Literacy Parade & Children’s Book Festival led by veteran literacy advocates Geneva Hayden, Co-Founder of Light a Candle for Literacy and Ruth Johnson Colvin, Founder of ProLiteracy Worldwide. Sponsors of the event are shown below. We are accepting donations which will be combined and sent to LCL in 2023.

Click the icon below to download the attached PDF.

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