Back Street gets young people into reading
Together with the Museum of Literature, we designed the exhibition Back Street. The goal: getting young people to read. How? By getting them to experience how many books there are on things that concern them. We translated ten topics important to young people into ten games: on dating, exploring boundaries, standing up for what you believe in, and so on. In these games, young people are introduced to different sorts of text: from biographies to spoken word; from poetry to graphic novels. Each game has its own space in the décor of a backstreet. In the Bunker, for example, you can enter an escape room of exciting stories or play a dating game in the Limousine. After your visit, you will be given book tips based on the games you played.
Research into the responses to Back Street shows that it is a surprisingly positive experience for both teachers and students. It is completely different from what you would expect from a visit to a literature museum: you step into a completely different world and play games together with your classmates. The non-school-like setup, the ever-changing, exciting rooms, and the design perfectly match the world of young people. It makes reading books more exciting than ever.