\u201cWhat are your favourite books?\u201d Meessen asks loudly.<\/p>\n
\u201cExciting books,\u201d comes the reply. Another shouts, \u201cBooks about ninjas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what do you like to do most of all?\u201d the director asks. About half the children shout, \u201cGaming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s see if we can change that balance.<\/p>\n
\"Mona Lisa''<\/h2>\n
According to Meessen, \u201csuspension of disbelief\u201d is a fundamental concept in literature: people\u2019s willingness to go along with a made-up story. Adults often have to consciously make that effort, he says. But the children in primary school groups 4A, 4B and 6 don\u2019t struggle with this yet. For them, fact and fiction are naturally intertwined \u2013 perhaps rightly so.<\/p>\n
As the group goes inside, a boy points towards a room where the door is ajar. He shouts, \u201cI\u2019ve found the \u2018Mona Lisa\u2019.\u201d He has a keen eye, and there is indeed a replica on the floor.<\/p>\n
![\"House](\"https:\/\/kingstreet-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/HuisvhBoek-49-1024x683.jpg\")
Ludwig Volbeda shows a drawing of an emperor with pimples: \u201cHe discovered you could cure them with pickle spread.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n
When the group goes inside, a boy points into a room where the door is ajar. He shouts, \u201cI found the \u2018Mona Lisa\u2019.\u201d He has a keen eye; on the floor is indeed a replica.<\/p>\n
The Huis van het boek is filled with exceptional works, including a first edition of \u201cDante\u2019s Inferno\u201d. The collection comprises 90,000 books and 350 manuscripts. The museum focuses on written and printed books in all forms, with the development of the design of both old and modern books as its central theme. The collection consists of richly illuminated medieval manuscripts and so-called incunabula: European documents or books printed with movable type. The term literally means: \u201cfrom the infancy of the art of printing\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mattresses on the street<\/h2>\n
Willem Maas is the director of Dr. JA Gerth van Wijkschool, a primary school located in the Laak district. He says that children of all nationalities attend his school, including many from Eastern Europe, such as Poland and Ukraine. He explains, \u201cWhat they have in common is that language is their biggest challenge. It\u2019s not easy when your parents don\u2019t speak Dutch, especially when going back to your home country isn\u2019t always an option. Many parents in Laak do seasonal work, you can see it in the neighbourhoods. Houses are crowded with migrants and when they leave, only their mattresses remain, left on the street in front of the doors.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"House](\"https:\/\/kingstreet-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/HuisvhBoek-21-683x1024.jpg\")
Headmaster Willem Maas of the Dr J.A. Gerth van Wijkschool with one of his students.<\/p><\/div>\n
Today is all about comics and children\u2019s books. Award-winning children\u2019s book illustrator and writer Ludwig Volbeda and children\u2019s book author Lizette de Koning are hosting the morning.<\/p>\n
Naked in the wild<\/h2>\n
An exhibition of Volbeda's work can be found on the first floor, featuring a collection of sketches and sketchbooks. He gained fame as a children\u2019s book illustrator and recently wrote his first novel \u201cOever\u201d, which was awarded the 2025 Woutertje Pieterse Prize. Volbeda\u2019s work as an illustrator is characterised by a delicate detailed style, every square centimetre is filled with things to see, and his images invite close inspection \u2013 they demand your full attention.<\/p>\n
Volbeda tells the children how to create a comic book and shares insights into his working process. The children stare open-mouthed at one of his latest works, illustrations for \u201cTortot, the Cold Fish Who Lost His World and Found His Heart\u201d, a collaboration with the writer Benny Lindelauf. Volbeda shows the children a drawing of an emperor who suffered from pimples. \u201cHe discovered that you could cure them with a pickle spread. Look!\u201d Volbeda also tells them about the main character, Tortot, a field cook who travelled with armies and always served the winning side. The illustrator continues with a thought on creative warfare: \u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t you be able to wage war with a rubber duck, for example?\u201d<\/p>\n
Do the children know what a griffin is? \u201cA fish and a bird,\u201d someone shouts. Volbeda replies, \u201cIt\u2019s a cross between an eagle and a lion.\u201d While he talks about his book \u201cDe vogels\u201d, about two statues in love who have birds convey their love messages, a boy with glasses is looking the other way, staring in shock at a marble statue. \u201cWow,\u201d he mumbles. \u201cWow\u2026 that statue is naked.\u201d<\/p>\n
One hundred countries<\/h2>\n
Nervousness starts to build as sketchbooks are handed out. A boy in an orange jumper begins pacing back and forth feverishly. He has slightly bent ears and beautiful black hair. The moment has arrived: the children can start drawing. There are various assignments, including \u201cDraw what you want\u201d or \u201cMake a new book cover for one of the books in the museum\u201d. The boy in the orange jumper doesn\u2019t hesitate for a moment.<\/p>\n
He starts drawing countries with his talkative friend in a white jumper who, according to Maas, is destined for politics because he already gives diplomatic answers to everything. \u201cWe\u2019re working on a project at school,\u201d says the boy. \u201cWe have already drawn 84 countries, and we\u2019re aiming for 100.\u201d Before Volbeda can give any instructions, they have the Benelux on paper and have started on Spain and Gibraltar. When asked what his favourite country is, the boy in the orange jumper replies, \u201cAustralia. There\u2019s lots of nature there, even in the cities.\u201d In his opinion, though, there could be fewer kangaroos.<\/p>\n
The \u201csuspension of disbelief\u201d Meessen spoke about can also help with your own creativity when making things that don\u2019t yet exist. A girl with bright green eyes places her sketchbook on the display case, next to that of a boy with his hood up, who is not so keen on drawing \u2013 he says he needs more practice. That doesn\u2019t bother her. Her tongue sticks out between her teeth as she sketches two floating books, letters fluttering from their pages, and a portrait of herself looking at the rain of letters. And underneath it all: \u201cA walking egg with legs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volbeda says, \u201cI\u2019m amazed. There was a child who noticed objects in the museum that I hadn\u2019t even seen \u2013 a bird feather and nutmeg \u2013 and made a book cover inspired by them. It was brilliant. I want to convey that even if kids prefer making games or vlogs, sketching out your ideas can really help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dog funeral<\/h2>\n
One floor up, a teacher stands with \u201cBelieve in yourself\u201d immortalised on her arm in blue ink. She\u2019s sweating, feeling the heat. Immediately, children flock to her, eager for help with their sketchbooks \u2013 a many-armed, fluttering organism surrounding the teacher, who looks through the open door at Lizette de Koning, at whose feet the children soon take their places.<\/p>\n
De Koning (\u201cThe King\u201d in English) says it may seem odd that her last name doesn\u2019t match what she does \u2013 she\u2019s definitely not a king. Surnames are a legacy of Napoleon, who ended the practice of people being known only by first names like Jan or Hein. \u201cSome people didn\u2019t take that naming moment seriously at all,\u201d she says, \u201cwhich is why there are still families with names like Poepjes (\u2018little poop\u2019) or Naaktgeboren (\u2018born naked\u2019).\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"House](\"https:\/\/kingstreet-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/HuisvhBoek-14-1024x683.jpg\")
Breathless, the children listen as Lizette de Koning reads out a riddle.<\/p><\/div>\n
The author wants to show that there are real people behind books, and that a book is not just a lifeless collection of paper. She tells the group that she incorporates elements from her own life in her work, like her dog Kwispel, and that she actually wanted to be a veterinarian, but is hopeless at maths. A girl in a polka-dot dress looks at her in disbelief: a woman who writes books but cannot do maths? She goes on shaking her head for minutes on end \u2013 that\u2019s just crazy.<\/p>\n
De Koning tells the story of the baron and how he loved dogs more than people. When his dogs died, it was a disaster, and he organised a funeral of majestic proportions. The carriages were polished, and there were gravestones for all his dogs in the garden. \u201cOhh,\u201d whispers a girl, \u201cso there are no dead people.\u201d<\/p>\n
As quit as mice<\/h2>\n
De Koning starts a part where the children are completely absorbed, no one talks about gaming and no screens are in sight. She describes an animal that is soft and large, perhaps dangerous, and that sometimes sleeps in the winter. \u201cA hedgehog?\u201d someone asks. \u201cAlmost,\u201d she answers. Director Willem Maas whispers, \u201cI think I know that animal.\u201d<\/p>\n
All the children are as quiet as mice. De Koning poses a new riddle to the group under the watchful eye of the baron, who is captured in a painting, just like his dogs. \u201cIt\u2019s a creature that can land on your hand in the summer sun. It is orange, has spots and can fly away just like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
A child in a Minnie Mouse shirt with a Gucci on top is thinking deeply. There is a murmur in the group when a boy suddenly stands up, unable to keep his answer to himself, he calls out: \u201cA sea eagle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maas looks around happily and proudly, just like the teachers. At the end of the morning, the children walk past the \u201cMona Lisa\u201d, heading outside into the garden, where they have something to eat and drink, beneath the big, warm sun. One child looks up, knowing he is flying away, high in the sky \u2013 orange feathers, black dots. The sea eagle has seen everything.<\/p>\n