December is Universal Human Rights Month, and the Cobb County Public Library has created a reading list that includes something for people of all ages.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948.

Human Rights Day is observed on December 10 — the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Article 2 of the UDHR states:

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

 Find the complete UDHR in English here. Find it in over 500 other languages here.

Cobb County Public Library’s Human Rights Month reading list

Children’s Picture Books

All Are Neighbors by Alexandra Penfold

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold

American Desi by Jyoti Rajan Gopal

Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams

Get Up, Stand Up by Cedella Marley

Hair Twins by Raakhee Mirchandani

How We Eat by Shuli de la Fuente-Lau

I Am Human: A Book of Empathy by Susan Verde

I Can Be All Three by Salima Alikhan

I is for Immigrants by Selina Alko

I See Color by Cierra Chuly Boyd

Lunch from Home by Joshua David Stein

Me gusta by Angela Dominguez

More Than Peach: Changing the World… One Crayon at a Time! by Bellen Woodard

Thao by Thao Lam

What’s the Difference?: Being Different is Amazing by Doyin Richards

You Are a Story by Bob Raczka

Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

Children’s Nonfiction

Fighting for Yes!: The Story of Disability Rights Activist Judith Heumann by Maryann Cocca-Leffler 

Hear My Voice: The Testimonies of Children Detained at the Southern Border of the United States compiled by Warren Binford

I See Color: An Affirmation and Celebration of Our Diverse World by Valerie Bolling

The People Remember by Ibi Zoboi

Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma by Joanna Ho

Rainbow Revolutionaries: 50 LGBTQ+ People Who Made History by Sarah Prager

Right Now!: Real Kids Speaking Up for Change by Miranda Paul

Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh

Walking for Water: How One Boy Stood Up for Gender Equality by Susan Hughes

We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures by Amnesty International

We are a Garden: A Story of How Diversity Took Root in America by Lisa Westberg Peters

We Celebrate the Light by Jane Yolen

What Makes Us Unique?: Our First Talk About Diversity by Jillian Roberts

Why We Live Where We Live by Kira Vermond

Young Adult Nonfiction

#NotYourPrincess edited by Mary Beth Leatherdale

Allies: A Real Talk About Showing Up, Screwing Up, and Trying Again edited by Shakirah Bourne

And We Rise: The Civil Rights Movement in Poems by Erica Martin

Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Girls Resist!: A Guide to Activism, Leadership, and Starting a Revolution by  KaeLyn Rich

Jane Against the World: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Reproductive Rights by Karen Blumenthal

Just Mercy: Adapted for Young Adults: A True Story of the Fight for Justice by Bryan Stevenson

Making It Right: Building Peace, Settling Conflict by Marilee Peters

A Queer History of the United States for Young People by Michael Bronski

Rise Up!: How You Can Join the Fight Against White Supremacy by Crystal Fleming

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights by Ann Bausum

Unequal: A Story of America by Michael Eric Dyson

We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson

Adult Nonfiction

American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures edited by America Ferrera

Beautiful People: My Thirteen Truths About Disability by Melissa Blake

Belabored: A Vindication of the Rights of Pregnant Women by Lyz Lenz

Bryan Stevenson: I Know This to be True: On Equality, Justice & Compassion by Bryan Stevenson

Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Mixed American Experience by Raj Tawney

Everybody: A Book About Freedom by Olivia Laing

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof

Holding Together: The Hijacking of Rights in America and How to Reclaim Them for Everyone by John HF Shattuck

Humanizing Immigration: How to Transform Our Racist and Unjust System by Bill Ong Hing

If You See Them: Young, Unhoused, and Alone in America by Vicki Sokolik

Indivisible: How to Forge Our Differences into a Stronger Future by Denise Hamilton

A Place to Belong: Celebrating Diversity and Kinship in the Home and Beyond by Amber O,Neal Johnston

Period. End of Sentence: A New Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice by Anita Diamant

Period: The Real Story of Menstruation by Kathryn BH Clancy

Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw: Reimagining Success as a Disabled Achiever by Eddie Ndopu

Speaking of Race: Why Everybody Needs to Talk About Racism — And How to Do It by Celeste Anne Headlee

To Stop a Warlord: My Story of Justice, Grace, and the Fight for Peace by Shannon Sedgwick Davis

Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality by Sarah McBride

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.