(Van Goor, 1989, 110 pages)

Kind te huur (‘Child To Let’) demonstrates Ted van Lieshout’s original perspective. Pipet is a post-modern, no-nonsense girl who wants to get rich. She gets annoyed by her parents’ half-baked ideas about conquering the world with a three stringed violin or fortune-telling. Pipet prefers a businesslike approach. She sends her parents off on a world tour, puts on a two-piece woman’s suit and rents herself out to parents who don’t have any children.

(Van Goor, 1990, 56 pages)

In the three stories of Ik ben een held the son is always smarter than his father. He takes on the monster Boneyboo, Bareghost and a fish that turns out to be a shark, each of them symbolizing various kinds of fear; fear of bones, of ghosts and of fish that might turn into monsters.

(Van Goor, 1991, 78 pages)

In Majlent a number of problems which young people often suffer from are brought together. Joeri (‘Yuri’) is a boy who feels that he should have been a girl, because becoming a mother seems ideal to him. That’s why he chooses another name, Majlent.

(Van Goor, 1996, 188 pages)

Bros. was once frequently seen at the end of names of companies headed by brothers. Van Lieshout uses the abbreviation to indicate a breach in the relationship between two brothers and the premature end of a young life.

Luuk is sixteen when he takes over his dead brother’s diary. He doesn’t feel easy about violating Marius’s privacy but it is the only way he can save the diary from the bonfire his mother is about to start of his brother’s stuff.

(Leopold, 2007, 142 pages)

Children and art – if they don’t make a connection, then it’s certainly not the fault of Ted van Lieshout. Writer, poet and illustrator wrapped into one, he has also become known in recent years as an art ambassador for children. In Papieren Museum 3 – De engel met twee neuzen, which he designed himself, he assumes the role of Director of the Paper Museum. The covers of the book are the walls of Van Lieshout’s museum, the pages are the galleries, where you can wander to your heart’s content, and get lost amongst the works of art that he has brought together with so much care.

(Leopold, 2011, 87 pages)

You can often see at a glance what a piece of writing is, says Ted van Lieshout in Driedelig paard, whether it’s a letter that you’re reading, or a poem or a shopping list. However, the texts in this book lack the telltale signs: they all look like rectangular blocks.

(Gottmer, 2013, 32 pages)

In their Farmer Boris picture books, Philip Hopman’s masterful illustrations perfectly underline the humour of Ted van Lieshout’s rhyming stories.

(Leopold, 2017, 96 pages)

In thirty-five free-verse poems and fifteen portraits of clay dolls, all-round artist Ted van Lieshout explores, in his original and distinctive way, the inner workings of a girl who is teetering precariously on the line between childhood and adulthood. Her voice is distinctive, her tone is direct, and her emotions are familiar yet ambiguous.

(Leopold, 2018, 88 pages)

The letters have been side-lined. The poet has written only one poem: an allegory, about a snowman who is robbed of his nose by an attractive rabbit. And then: nothing. ‘We’re all ready for a new poetry collection. Come on, poet!’ But he has a broken heart, and so the unemployed letters decide to do it themselves.

(Leopold, 2020, 144 pages)

It takes some courage to make a book with the title What Is Art? Isn’t art too wide-ranging for a simple definition? And yet the multi-talented Ted van Lieshout has taken on this challenge – and with great success. In a playful and imaginative way, he unravels the mystery of art in this visually stunning book. Or is it a conceptual work of art?

(Gottmer, 2021, 32 pages)

What began ten years ago with a simple counting book has grown to become an iconic picture-book series in the Netherlands, featuring playful stories of a consistently high quality. These stories are about Farmer Boris, a pre-schooler who has adventures with his brother and sister on and around his farm.

(Querido, 2022, 176 pages)

The eccentric and eloquent Antonij (age 15) is attracted to grown men and feels he is the only person who is entitled to make decisions about his body and mind. In a cemetery, he meets the handsome Leo, who doesn’t lay a finger on him and yet is accused of abuse. At the request of Leo’s lawyer, Antonij makes a statement. His captivating, shifting accounts of what happened keep changing your view of the situation. But is anyone listening to him? This premise gives rise to an artfully crafted novel which also features a mysterious story from the past about a grave in which a grandmother and grandchild are buried together. The Man with the Chisel raises important questions about sexuality…