October is Global Diversity Awareness Month. While no single event or organization is credited with officially creating the month, it emerged from various global and national efforts to foster inclusivity, cross-cultural understanding, and the celebration of differences.
In celebration, the Cobb Public Library has published a reading list that includes something for all ages to celebrate the world’s diversity.
Children’s Picture Books
All Are Neighbors by Alexandra Penfold
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
American Desi by Jyoti Rajan Gopal
Dumpling Day by Meera Sriram
Goodnight Racism by Ibram X. Kendi
Hair Twins by Raakhee Mirchandani
Hello, Friend Hola, Amigo by Andrés Salguero
Hundred Years of Happiness by Thanhha Lai
I Am Human: A Book of Empathy by Susan Verde
Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You by Sonia Sotomayor
Lunch From Home by Joshua David Stein
Me Gusta by Angela Dominguez
On This Airplane by Lourdes Heuer
Say Hello! by Rachel Isadora
Say Something by Peter H Reynolds
Two New Years by Richard Ho
We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands by Rafael López
Wherever You Go by Alexandra Penfold
Yo Soy Muslim: A Father’s Letter to His Daughter by Mark Gonzalez
Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
Children’s Nonfiction
I Move A Lot and That’s Okay by Shermaine Perry-Knights
I is for Immigrants by Selina Alko
I See Color: An Affirmation and Celebration of Our Diverse World by Valerie Bolling
The People Remember by Ibi Aanu Zoboi
We Are a Garden: A Story of How Diversity Took Root in America by Lisa Westberg Peters
What’s the Difference?: Being Different is Amazing by Doyin Richards
Who We Are!: All About Being the Same and Being Different by Robie Harris
Whoever You Are by Mem Fox
Children’s and Preteen Chapter Books
Call Me Al by Wali Shah
Dream, Annie, Dream by Waka Brown
Finally Seen by Kelly Yang
Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh
Holler of the Fireflies by David Barclay Moore
Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee
The Night Diary by Veera Niranandani
The Other Side of the River by Alda Dobbs
Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte
Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer
Teen and Young Adult Fiction
The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed
Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro
Fresh Ink edited by Lamar Giles
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
I Guess I Live Here Now by Claire Ahn
Into the Light by Mark Oshiro
The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isaac Blum
The Next to Last Mistake by Amalie Jahn
Not Your Average Jo by Grace Shim
Six Truths and a Lie by Ream Shukairy
True True by Don Hooper
We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds
Adult Fiction
Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction edited by Sheree Thomas
The Bad Immigrant by Sefi Atta
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer
The Membranes by Dawei Ji
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Off the Books by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier
Stealing by Margaret Verble
Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen
Those We Thought We Knew by David Joy
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
Victim by Andrew Boryga
We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Yellowface by RF Kuang
Young Adult and Adult Nonfiction
A Place to Belong: Celebrating Diversity and Kinship in the Home and Beyond by Amber O’Neal Johnston
Bias Interrupted: Creating Inclusion for Real and for Good by Joan Williams
Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Mixed American Experience by Raj Tawney
The Diversity Gap: Where Good Intentions Meet True Cultural Change by Bethaney Wilkinson
Don’t Label Me: An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times by Irshad Manji
Human Diversity: the Biology of Gender, Race, and Class by Charles A. Murray
Indivisible: How to Forge Our Differences Into a Stronger Future by Denise Hamilton
The Journey of Humanity: the Origins of Wealth and Inequality by Oded Galor
Letters to a Writer of Color edited by Deepa Anappara
The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias by Dolly Chugh
Relations: an Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices edited by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
Speaking of Race: Why Everybody Needs to Talk About Racism — And How to Do It by Anne Celeste Headlee
You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
About the Cobb County Public Library
According to the Cobb County Public Library website:
Cobb County Public Library is a 15-branch system headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, where its staff members serve a diverse population of over 750,000 people. Cobb is one of Georgia’s fastest-growing counties, and Cobb County Public Library is dedicated to being a resource center in the community by providing equal access to information, materials, and services.
History of Cobb’s library system
The first public library in Cobb County was opened in the home of Sarah Freeman Clarke in Marietta. Clarke, whose family was from Massachusetts, was an advocate for free lending libraries and began lending books from her own collection informally from her house before it became obvious there needed to be a better-organized library system.
According to The First Hundred Years, A Short History of Cobb County in Georgia, by Sarah Blackwell Gober Temple, the library opened in 1882, was at Clarke’s residence on Whitlock Avenue, and was named the Franklin Library.
The first standalone library building opened on Church Street near the home of William Root in October 1893 and was named the Sarah Freeman Clarke Library.
Subsequently, libraries were opened in Acworth and Austell. In 1959, the city of Marietta and several other Cobb County libraries combined to form a countywide system that began the Cobb County Public Library as we know it today.
You can read more about the history of the Cobb County Public Library by following this link.
