Good Reads

Instead of spending their winter playing video games or watching TV, kids should make the most of the cold, dreary, less-hectic days by curling up in front of the fire with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book. Janet Wingard, a youth services librarian at North Cobb Regional Library in Kennesaw, has compiled a winter reading list, along with some great recommendations for Black History Month, for children and teens to enjoy. How about checking out a few for the upcoming winter break? Remember, the library also offers titles in e-book and audiobook.

Winter Recommendations

Preschool (ages 2-5)

1. “The Mitten” by Alvin Tresselt

2. “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats

3. “Waiting for Winter” by Sebastian Meschenmoser

4. “Froggy Gets Dressed” by Jonathan London

5. “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?” by Bill Martin

K-2nd Grade

1. “Owl Moon” by Jane Yolen

2. “Snow” by Uri Shulevitz

3. “Katy and the Big Snow” by Virginia Lee Burton

4. “Bear Snores On” on by Karma Wilson

5. “ Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold” by Joyce Sidman

3rd-5th Grade

1. “Over and Under the Snow” by Kate Messner

2. “Snowmen at Night” by Caralyn Buehner

3. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost

4. “Snowflake Bentley” by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

5. “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” by Richard and Florence Atwater

Middle School

1. “The Long Winter” by Laura Ingalls Wilder

2. “The Sea in Winter” by Christine Day

3. “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis

4. “Greenglass House” by Kate Milford

5. “Winterfrost” by Michelle Houts

High School

1. “Clementine: Book One” by Tillie Walden

2. “Seasons of the Storm” by Elle Cosimano

3. “Echo North” by Joanna Ruth Meyer

4. “After the Snow” by S.D. Crockett

5. “Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares” by Rachel Cohn

Black History Month Recommendations

Preschool (ages 2-5)

1. “Count to Love!” by Andrea Davis Pinkney

2. “Mae Among the Stars” by Roda Ahmed

3. “Follow Your Dreams, Little One” by Vashti Harrison

4. “Firebird” by Misty Copeland

5. “Black is a Rainbow Color” by Angela Joy

K-2nd Grade

1. “A Day for Rememberin’” by Leah Henderson

2. “Alaina and the Great Play” by Eloise Greenfield

3. “ The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage” by Selina Alko

4. “Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb!” by Veronica Chambers

5. “The ABCs of Black History” by Rio Cortez

3rd-5th Grade

1. “Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance” by Nikki Grimes

2. “Miles Morales: Shock Waves” by Justin A. Reynolds

3. “The 1619 Project: Born on the Water” by Nikole Hannah-Jones

4. “ The Highest Tribute: Thurgood Marshall’s Life, Leadership and Legacy” by Kekla Magoon

5. “Young, Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present” by Jamia Wilson

Middle School

1. “Amari and the Night Brothers” by B.B. Alston

2. “Fast Pitch” by Nic Stone

3. “Forever This Summer” by Leslie Youngblood

4. “Root Magic” by Eden Royce

5. “African Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History” by Tracey Baptiste

High School

1. “Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre” by Brandy Colbert

2. “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You” by Jason Reynolds

3. “March” graphic novel trilogy by John Lewis

4. “X: A Novel” by Ilyasah Shabazz

5. “A Matter of Souls” by Denise Lewis Patrick

A large crowd turned out last month to remember the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the MLK Celebration and Day of Service in Acworth. The day’s events included a breakfast at the Roberts School Community and Education Center, a Unity Walk, a program at the Acworth Community Center and a service project that included a donation drive to collect food, clothes and toiletries. After the program, volunteers returned to the Roberts School to sort the donated items so local partner churches could pick up and distribute them to those in need.