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.