In 1947 writer and Parool editor Wim Hora Adema asked Fiep if she would like to work on the newspaper's women's page. Emerging from the Dutch resistance, Het Parool had become a postwar cradle of journalistic and artistic talent with writers like Han G. Hoekstra, Harriët Freezer, Jeanne Roos, Wim Hora Adema and Annie M.G. Schmidt.

For the women's page, Fiep produced witty, satirical illustrations to accompany pieces such as Harriët Freezer's column Ladies Like This, Men Like That. When a children's page was launched under the auspices of Wim Hora Adema, it was only natural for Fiep to start drawing for that as well. "It wasn't until I began drawing for the children's page of Het Parool that I got into children's books." As an artist Fiep was permanently inducted into children's literature. "In Holland you always get pigeonholed. As it happens, I don't mind - it's a nice pigeonhole. I don't really change my way of drawing for children. The only prerequisite is that they have to be able to understand it. There's something childish about me, but I think that applies to everyone. It's just my job to express it."