[3][4] As a children's writer he was one of five finalists for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2008.

[6] His parents were members of the Catholic Apostolic Church, but in 2006 Kuijer explained that he doesn't remember ever believing in God.

In 1973 he stopped teaching in order to become a full-time writer and this year he published his first novel Het dochtertje van de wasvrouw.

[6] In 1975 he published his first children's book Met de poppen gooien, for which he received a Gouden Griffel in 1976.

In 2011 Australian Richard Tulloch translated The Book of Everything into English and adapted it into a very successful play produced in 2013 by the Melbourne Theatre Company.