Books. Sigh. What would my family and I do without them? For 13 years, they have helped us raise our kids without screens, travel around the world for free, and fill our lives with beautiful stories and visuals that have always kept us company and given us hope, inspiration, joy, and compassion. Books have been our souls’ best friends.

We started reading to our daughter from the time she was a newborn; in fact, we always had a lot of books lying around the house for her to look at and ‘read’ during her toddler years. Perhaps that’s why she was such an early and lucid talker, just like her brother, who had a similar environment 6 years later. The kids, now 13 and 7, do not crave screens because they find the books far more interesting. They have given us lifelong readers, writers, and deep thinkers.

Over the past 13-14 years, we must have read over 10,000 books as a family, visited the library multiple times a week, and sought out quaint bookstores on all our travels. Our souvenirs from all our recent trips abroad have been books—mostly children’s books. It’s hard to beat the simplicity and visual stimulation of storytelling through picture books. There have been picture books that made me ponder profound philosophical dilemmas and have inspired and propelled me more than any adult self-help books. Just reading with my kids over the past decade has taught me much, much more than my entire schooling has. I can probably survive without food, but my soul won’t last long without books, truly.

So, it gives me immense joy to share some of our favorites with you. Only a reader knows the joy of a good book recommendation :) So, allow me the pleasure of sharing my lists with you, and I would love to receive any recommendations you may have! Let’s get munching, bookworm! ;)