It was a real pleasure when children’s book Mini Rabbit Come Home by John Bond popped through my letterbox unexpectedly. My thanks to Tina Mories at Harper Collins for sending me a surprise copy

Mini Rabbit Come Home was published by Harper Collins Children’s Books on 18th March 2021 and is available for purchase through the links here.

Mini Rabbit Come Home

Mini Rabbit is back in another adventure from leading new talent John Bond!

Mini Rabbit is making a camp in the garden.
He can’t wait. It’s going to be the BEST DAY ever!

But there are still a few last things he needs to get, and it looks like it might rain. Will Mini Rabbit ever manage to get everything home in time?

Another hilarious adventure featuring the irrepressibly enthusiastic Mini Rabbit. Wittily told and beautifully illustrated from dynamic author/illustrator talent John Bond

My Review of Mini Rabbit Come Home

Mini Rabbit is having another adventure.

As with all my children’s book reviews, I have to comment on the physical qualities of the book’s production and Mini Rabbit Come Home is absolutely excellent. Bound in a thick, robust, good quality cover I can see this book being very durable in both home and school settings. The pages are also superb quality.

I have a tiny criticism which arises out of my personal preference as I would rather not have upper case words in the middle of sentences in children’s books. That said, in Mini Rabbit Come Home, they are used for emphasis, so I can see the opportunities for discussing writing technique with emergent writers was well as encouraging young readers, and the upper case words certainly add drama to the story when it is read aloud.

And there’s a smashing story here as Mini Rabbit heads off to gather the items needed for his camping. The fact he loses half of them on the way home or, like the marshmallows, they curiously vanish adds humour that children will love. The events add all manner of opportunities to discuss with children what has actually happened and the lovely illustrations help less secure young readers interpret the text. The message about the joys of home and safety comes through brilliantly as does the exploration of disappointment and overcoming adversity. This really is a lovely story.

I thought the balance of writing to illustration was perfect and indeed, the illustrations are glorious. It’s wonderful that Mini Rabbit is black rather than fluffy white, as might be expected, as I feel insufficient children’s books challenge expectation as well as this one does. I have no idea whether it was intentional, but Mini Rabbit is helped to make camp by his Mum which gives status to female roles and there is no mention of his Dad which I feel represents positively single parent families.

I think Mini Rabbit Come Home is a super book for young children.

About John Bond

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John Bond is an illustrator, author and artist. He grew up on a farm in the Cotswolds and went on to study a degree in Illustration at Kingston University, London. He now lives and works in Worthing on the south coast. His studio is based at Colonnade House.

With a background in animation and digital media, he spent 7 years working at an award winning creative agency – designing and directing a multitude of projects for broadcast, digital, and interactive content.

He now works independently as an illustrator and artist, balancing commercial jobs with self initiated projects alongside running his own online store. Bond’s work has been exhibited in galleries worldwide and he has spoken at industry events such as Pictoplasma, Glug and Pecha Kucha.

For more information, visit John’s website, follow him on Twitter @iamjohnbond and Instagram or find him on Facebook.