Lice: How to Survive on Humans - Hardcover

by Berta Paramo (Author), Marc Correa Haro (Translator)

A 2026 Children's Book Council Kid's Favorite!

Winner of Germany's most renowned literary award for young readers -- the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 2025 (Nonfiction)

"Required reading for lice or anyone likely to harbor them." - Kirkus Reviews

"A delightfully hilarious and disgusting tour of everything you need to know about lice, told for the discerning parasite. Gross in the best possible way!" - School Library Journal

Eek! In a hilarious spin on insect books, this lavishly illustrated survival guide for lice--by lice--helps us understand the miracle of life everywhere.

Lice unite! Finally a book that celebrates our extraordinary story and prepares us for survival. We are marvels of nature on a child's head, with claws perfectly adapted to the diameter of the human hair. What other creature can lift two thousand times their body weight? What other bug can touch and taste with their entire body?

Two hundred pages include everything lice need to know. Really, what is there not to love? We fart our way out of our eggs! Sure, we eat only human blood, and can survive swimming pools, hot showers and the crush of human fingers, but we are as delicate as they come. Take us from our natural environment and we die in minutes. We are nothing without our humans. They might never welcome us, but it is time for their respect. Life is a miracle--and so are lice!

Author Biography

Berta Páramo studied architecture but after a Masters degree in illustrated children's books, illustration led her into another direction. Drawing helps her think and also expresses her way of understanding the world. She specializes in non-fiction books where she likes to travel unexplored paths in every subject that she investigates. Her book FLUIDOTECA (Litera Libros, 2021) has been awarded a special mention by Bologna Ragazzi Awards 2022 in the Opera Prima category. Berta's work has been selected at Bologna Children's Book Fair, World Illustration Awards or Sharjah Children's Reading Festival, inter alia.

Marc Correa Haro is a translator born and raised in Barcelona,
where he completed a Bachelor in English Studies at University of
Barcelona, which he later complemented with a Master's degree in
Literary Translation from Trinity College Dublin. His interests include
music, basketball, video games, literature, and technology, so naturally
he ended up translating a book about lice.