Bun

By Hana Kinoshita Thomson

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

Hana is a Japanese-American- Australian illustrator, designer and author and the in-house book designer at Allen & Unwin. Here is her debut picture book, a delightful story about a rabbit called Bun which has all the ingredients to appeal to very young children, simple recognisable details, food, gardening, friends and a celebration.

We meet Bun when she wakes up in her carrot themed bedroom, spot the carot duna and carrot lights. She has breakfast, brushes her teeth and gets ready to go outside to her veggie patch. How many vegetables is she growing? I can see pumpkins, carrots, tomatoes, cauiliflowers and even corn.

Bun is on a mission to collect ingredients for something and in turn she visits her friends Daisy, Buttercup and Walnut who each provide what is required. Back home Bun does what she loves – baking! I am so glad that we see Bun washing up after her work. Then the final celebration.with friends ends the wonderful day. Look out for Gary, the snail, who makes an appearance on every page

I love the clarity of the design, the placement of detail, the minimal text which allows the story to happen on the page. The colour is appealing, again designed for the very young.

Perfect for early childhood learning centres, and home libraries. This is a book that can be enjoyed all year round not just at Easter. I hope Bun has many more adventures with her friends.

Activity Sheet (colour in the cover)

 A & U Children 2026