Bug in a Vacuum - Hardcover

"A bug flies indoors, is sucked into a vacuum, and experiences the five stages of grief while entrapped. The narrative plays it straight, but the double-page spreads--over 40 of them--tell a far livelier story .... [Watt] includes a clever, visually parallel story about the household's dachshund, whose favorite toy, a knitted, button-eyed dog, suffers the same fate as the bug .... Another funny, visually rollicking work from the creator of Chester and Scaredy Squirrel." - Kirkus Reviews

"The double-page artwork cleverly illustrates these traumatic events with a muted palette and cute, cartoony characters. Much of the humor is tongue-in-cheek. There is plenty of detail in the illustrations that will evoke adult chuckles and encourage children to look closer .... The award-winning author of the "Scaredy Squirrel" series (Kids Can) is back with an equally engaging, if a bit more sophisticated, picture book to delight audiences." - School Library Journal

"Mélanie Watt's retro-styled illustrations are kitschy, cool, mid-modern masterpieces . . . Bug in a Vacuum is original, witty, and moving." - Quill & Quire

"In a story heady and intellectually ambitious enough for a jaded adult, yet suited to a child's down-to-earth appetites, a wide-eyed fly gets vacuumed up .... There's a journey, yes, into the light, but it's a happy ending that may just prompt sheer joy at the simple fact of being alive." - The New York Times

"This book is so eloquently written and illustrated, so carefully and tenderly crafted. . . Highly recommended." - The Globe and Mail

A bug flies through an open door into a house, through a bathroom, across a kitchen and bedroom and into a living room ... where its entire life changes with the switch of a button. Sucked into the void of a vacuum bag, this one little bug moves through denial, bargaining, anger, despair and eventually acceptance -- the five stages of grief -- as it comes to terms with its fate. Will there be a light at the end of the tunnel? Will there be dust bunnies in the void? A funny, suspenseful and poignant look at the travails of a bug trapped in a vacuum.