Vriens, who formerly worked as a schoolteacher, drew inspiration for the book from one of his students named Anke, who suffered from leukemia.

After she died in 1991 Vriens had difficulty approaching the subject matter, but Anke's mother encouraged him to write the book.

[2] It took him several times before he could begin writing, as the story was deeply personal to him and he would grow sad when he knew that the book's main character of Akkie would have to die.

[2] To distance himself from the work, Vriens changed the name of the book's main character and made Akkie's teacher female instead of male.

The first adaptation was the 2012 Dutch film Achtste Groepers Huilen Niet, which starred Hanna Obbeek as the main character of Akkie.