This innovative, ironic, and metaphoric exploration of the life of worms is a stunning showcase of Noemi Vola’s impressive and versatile talents as both an illustrator and a writer. Her funny, clever illustrations are paired with pithy, ironic text that conveys all you ever needed (and perhaps never needed) to know about worms.

Beginning with “factual” material about worms in general, from eating habits to underground habitats to its varying shades of pink, there is much to discover about worms. The narrative then follows one worm in particular through a tragic loss of its better half (also known as the worm’s tail), becoming a metaphor for all who have loved and lost. The humor of both illustrations and text are paired beautifully, introducing a distinctive new artist with honed literary sensibility to the American audience. Vola’s pink-edged bible of worms