(Leopold, 1988, 87 pagina's)

King Donald’s love for Queen Rosemonde is deathless - even though everyone says that Queen Rosemonde is dead. The king is sure that she isn’t. She has only disappeared thanks to some evil spell. He just goes on waiting for her, even though his knights and councillors keep urging him into a second marriage. ‘I shall not remarry, Rosemonde before I have got you back. And then… I’ll marry you again.’ That the king can still talk to Rosemonde is due to the fact that he has found a replacement for her: her pillow, on which he has placed a crown. The king shows the power that imagination can engender.

(Leopold, 1991, 97 pagina's)

Het zakmes shows how deep children’s friendships can be. Mees and his friend Tim, both six years old, are in grade three. The day before Tim moves to Almere he shows Mees his new beautiful red pocket-knife in the schoolyard. Mees is even allowed to hold it for a moment. When the teacher, one of the strict old-fashioned kind who don’t like pocket-knives, comes close by, Mees quickly puts the knife in his pocket. Immediately the bell rings and the boys run inside. The lesson starts and they forget the pocket-knife. The next day Mees wants to give the knife back but Tim has just gone with the removals van and has not left his new address behind.

(Leopold, 1992, 60 pagina's)

Josje (Josie) lives in a port town together with a number of friendly animals of whom Cousin Donkey is her favourite. Her marriage with the soldier she has fallen in love with turns into a big party. But on the wedding night she has a nightmare: her soldier is picked up by ‘the Tar Men’ to go to war. He doesn’t return. Josie’s sorrow is great: ‘every word hurts’. She stuffs her sorrow into a big wardrobe, and that of the animals too: ‘Ironed flat, the little sorrow fitted onto the shelves in neat piles’ and the big sorrow hung ‘like heavy winter overcoats on the wardrobe’s hangers.’ At first it’s fine, that the sorrow is packed away, but afterwards they realize that…

(Nieuw Amsterdam, 2007, 28 pagina's)

Sjaantje doet alsof by Sjoerd Kuyper and the multi-talented Daan Remmerts de Vries is a very colourful picture book, both literally and figuratively, and it may be classified within the genre of the ‘consolation fantasy’: in order to make life bearable, a young child unconsciously imagines a life peopled with characters who don’t exist or with loved ones who are no longer there.

(Lemniscaat, 2012, 192 pagina's)

Last year, Sjoerd Kuyper won the Theo Thijssen Prize for his body of work as a children’s author. His stories combine readability with literary skill and depth.

(Lemniscaat, 2014, 228 pagina's)

It’s the kind of day “for writing your name across the moon with a spray can”. Kos scores an impossible goal in front of a talent scout for the Ajax football team – and in front of Isabel, the most beauti­ful girl in the world. His dad is so over­joyed that he has a heart attack. From that point on, Kos seems to be the only one using his common sense – or at least trying to…

Things haven’t been going well at the hotel since Kos’s mum died, but without his dad there, it becomes impossible. How can you run a hotel and still keep on going to school? How can you paIt’s the kind of day “for writing your name across the moon with a spray can”. Kos scores an impossible…

(Lemniscaat, 2014, 176 pagina's)

For this work of magical realism, Sjoerd Kuyper found inspiration on the island of Curaçao. He organised his thoughts in emails to his children, with songs, a monologue, a newspaper article. That was how the form of the book came about: ‘a love letter to the island of Curaçao, in 25 genres,’ as one reviewer wrote.

(Hoogland & Van Klaveren, 2019, 315 pagina's)

‘Every person is a story that in no way resembles the story of anyone else. By reading, you find out what other people think.’ Taking this idea as a starting point, Sjoerd Kuyper has written Bizarre, a unique diary adventure packed with beautiful sentences and important thoughts and in which the truth is at stake. In addition, through his unforgettable protagonist, he incidentally raises all kinds of major social issues.