Marit Toernqvist was born in 1964 in Uppsala, Sweden and divides her time between the Netherlands and Sweden. She studied illustration at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. In 2011 she was awarded a Golden Plaque from the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava, one of the most prestigious children's illustration awards. In 2024, Marit was the winner of the esteemed Johannes Vermeer Award, the Dutch state prize for the arts, the first time the award was presented to a specialist in children's book illustration.
"Do you want to play at my house? You can stay and play all day. We can play anything!" Maybe the friends will bake cookie animals that roar and quack, be butterflies fluttering in the wind, count rainbow birds, sleep in an animal hotel or put on a show -- together they can play everything! This vibrant and beautifully simple story from multi-award-winning author-illustrator Marit Tornqvist celebrates the extraordinary imaginations of young children and reinforces the value of play.