The story actually starts off with Mini Rabbit and Mother Rabbit making a cake. Many of us can relate to our children or seeing children helping out an adult with baking (or building) something that normally adults do. You see their independence and confidence grow incredibly fast no matter how well they are actually doing.

Mini Rabbit’s energy and enthusiasm is infectious and his tenacious approach to the task in hand will resonate with any parent of an exuberant young child. This delightfully funny picture book teems with distinctive, vibrant illustrations, which are full of humour and complement the text perfectly. As he charges off, he doesn’t hear Mother Rabbit say there are plenty of juicy berries on the bush underneath their tree house. Instead, he hurtles through fields and woods, rows across the sea to a lighthouse and even scales a snowy mountain in his fervent search for fruit. Mini Rabbit Must Help and Mini Rabbit Come Home were published in 2020 and 2021 respectively and complete this trilogy of witty adventures. Mini Rabbit is extremely excited as he is helping Mother Rabbit bake a cake. Realising they have run out of berries, Mini Rabbit leaps into action, embarking on an enthusiastic search for the missing ingredient.How often have we seen kids (or even us as adults) say “no thank you” to someone who has offered to help? Well, John Bond again captures this in how he reveals that others often see our plight before we do. This book seems to be about how sometimes we have to take that journey to figure it out for ourselves – as difficult as it may be. He now works independently as an illustrator and artist from his studio at Colonnade House, balancing commercial jobs with self initiated projects and running his online shop. John’s work has been exhibited in galleries worldwide and he has spoken at industry events such as Pictoplasma, Glug and Pecha Kucha. I really like the art work in this book. It is colourful, humorous and uses a really pleasing range of pastel colours. I like the occasional use of alternative colours too; a variety of purples for trees in a wood and blues for trees in the snow. I also like the variety of layouts.

Books are absolutely crucial in getting us to think about new worlds': we speak to the award-winning author, Onjali Q Rauf John also uses a wonderful narrator voice to help guide us readers along the way, gently confirming what we are seeing. The way the artwork transitions on each spread and change in scenery to the next is as interesting to study as it is to search for the hidden berries.I sure hope NOT LOST isn’t the only Mini Rabbit book that John Bond is going to do. I really enjoy this character John has created and how well he captured the enthusiasm a child can have when given the chance to help. For me, that’s the “thing” I want to really take away from this for my writing. I hope you’ll be able to find and capture that bit of life that we can all relate to and enjoy as well With your eyes closed or a blind fold on, have someone put different foods or items in front of you and see if you can guess what they are just by smelling them.