Bond was educated at Presentation College, a Catholic school in Reading. During World War II he served in both the Royal Air Force and the Middlesex Regiment of the British Army.

Bond began writing in 1945 and sold his first short story to the magazine London Opinion. In 1958, after producing a number of plays and short stories and while working as a BBC television cameraman (where he worked filming Blue Peter for a time), his first book, A Bear Called Paddington, was published. This was the start of Bond's most famous series of books, telling tales of a bear from "Darkest Peru", whose Aunt Lucy sends him to England, carrying a jar of marmalade. The Brown family found the bear at Paddington Station, and adopted him, naming the bear after the station. By 1967, Bond was able to give up his BBC job to work full-time as a writer. Paddington's adventures have been published in nearly twenty countries, and has inspired pop bands, race horses, plays, hot air balloons and a TV series. Bond stated in December 2007 that he did not plan to continue the adventures of Paddington Bear in further volumes.

Bond has also written another series of children's books, the adventures of a guinea pig named Olga da Polga, as well as the animated BBC TV series The Herbs. Bond also writes culinary mystery stories for adults featuring Monsieur Pamplemousse and his faithful bloodhound, Pommes Frites.

In 1997, Bond was awarded the OBE for services to children's literature. On 6 July 2007 the University of Reading awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Letters.

Bond is married with two adult children and lives in London, not far from Paddington Station.

Paddington Bear Series

• 1958 A Bear Called Paddington (ISBN 0-618-15071-4)
• 1959 More About Paddington
• 1960 Paddington Helps Out
• 1961 Paddington Abroad
• 1962 Paddington at Large
• 1964 Paddington Marches On
• 1966 Paddington at Work
• 1968 Paddington Goes to Town
• 1970 Paddington Takes the Air
• 1972 Paddington's Garden
• 1973 Paddington's Blue Peter Story Book a.k.a. Paddington Takes to TV
• 1974 Paddington on Top
• 1979 Paddington Takes the Test
• 2008 Paddington Rules the Waves
• 2008 Paddington Here and Now

Olga da Polga Series

Monsieur Pamplemousse Series

• 1983 Monsieur Pamplemousse
• 1985 Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Secret Mission
• 1986 Monsieur Pamplemousse on the Spot
• 1987 Monsieur Pamplemousse Takes the Cure
• 1989 Monsieur Pamplemousse Aloft
• 1990 Monsieur Pamplemousse Investigates
• 1991 Monsieur Pamplemousse Rests His Case
• 1992 Monsieur Pamplemousse Stands Firm
• 1992 Monsieur Pamplemousse on Location
• 1993 Monsieur Pamplemousse Takes the Train
• 1998 Monsieur Pamplemousse Omnibus Volume One
• 1998 Monsieur Pamplemousse Omnibus Volume Two
• 1999 Monsieur Pamplemousse Afloat
• 1999 Monsieur Pamplemousse Omnibus Volume Three
• 2000 Monsieur Pamplemousse on Probation
• 2002 Monsieur Pamplemousse on Vacation
• 2003 Monsieur Pamplemousse Hits the Headlines
• 2006 Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Militant Midwives
• 2007 Monsieur Pamplemousse and the French Solution
• 2010 Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Carbon Footprint (release date April 12, 2010)

Other

• 1966 Here Comes Thursday
• 1968 Thursday Rides Again
• 1969 Thursday Ahoy!
• 1971 Thursday in Paris
• 1971 Michael Bond's Book of Bears (Editor)
• 1972 The Day the Animals Went on Strike
• 1975 Windmill
• 1975 How to Make Flying Things (nonfiction)
• 1975 Mr. Cram's Magic Bubbles
• 1980 Picnic on the River
• 1980 J. D. Polson and the Liberty Head Dime
• 1981 J. D. Polson and the Dillogate Affair
• 1983 The Caravan Puppets
• 1986 (With Paul Parnes) Oliver the Greedy Elephant
• 1987 (And photographer) The Pleasures of Paris (guidebook)
• 1988 A Mouse Called Thursday (omnibus)
• 1992 A Day by the Sea
• 1992 Something Nasty in the Kitchen
• 1996 Bears and Forebears: A Life So Far (autobiography)