This year’s Book of the Year, Paper Girl’s World, is lighting up happiness everywhere.
Crack open Judy Williamson’s 400-page masterpiece, and joy pours out like sunshine through a window you didn’t know was there. One page sends you off to a Mach 2 happy hour on the Concorde. Next, you’re face-to-face with the mist of Iguazu Falls. Then, romance drifts in at three miles an hour on a French canal barge, where even the clocks seem to take a break.
Paper Girl’s World: It’s an experience. A mood. A reminder that wonder isn’t only out there somewhere; it’s tucked between pages, waiting for a curious heart to open them.
It’s the kind of book that makes you want to pack a bag and brew another cup of coffee, because somehow, you’re already traveling.
Looking for a spark
The holidays can drum up sadness. But one gift may drum up happiness right from the coffee table.
You know those mornings when the coffee tastes fine but your mind’s still stuck in neutral? That’s me until I reach for Paper Girl’s World.
The cover makes me smile. It’s bold and colorful and almost humming with energy, and then I start flipping through, just for “a few minutes.”
Two hours later, I am grinning at what she said about a sunset train ride in India: “Every journey is a love letter you send to yourself.” I close the book and feel my shoulders drop, like someone just opened a window in a stuffy room. For the first time in a while, I feel that spark again, the one that reminds me that life is still full of places to feel alive.
A book for instant happiness
Good Morning Texas TV host Erin Hunter recently asked Judy how she would advise her younger self when she was writing for major dailies.
“I would tell her not to take herself so seriously. One thing that’s interesting about the book, there are 1000 photos and I took all of them except the archival. There’s not one cell phone in any of the pictures. People are looking at each other. I would also tell folks, when you travel, don’t look down, look around.” Judy Williamson/Good Morning Texas/WFAA.com/Paper Girl’s World Inside the Pages/11/04/2025
This photo, taken by Judy in Spain, 1983, captures the joy of face-to-face conversation outside.
How much joy do we lose by staring into our palms instead of into each other’s eyes?
Page by page, Judy whisks us around the world, reminding us that beauty is everywhere to behold.
Look around, not down.
A coffee table inspiration
Rarely have I seen a coffee table book that evokes so much happiness.
“What is it, honey, that makes your images charge so much emotion?”
“I focus on the eyes,” she says. “The eyes tell a deep story, and I want to hear and share that story.”
From the first photo to the last, Judy Williamson captures compelling people, young and old, majestic wildlife, scenic splendors, off-the-beaten-path cafes, and kitschy shops, letting them revive our sense of adventure.
Add an extra skip to your step this holiday season.
Land Paper Girl’s World on your coffee table and lift your spirits to new heights.