It begins with a logbook. Participants must then accept the premise that a fearsome pirate has released an apocalyptic creature in an attempt to become king of the seven seas. Stopping him means travelling through Toulon’s libraries and solving the mysteries surrounding a cursed book.

It could be the opening of a children’s novel or a role-playing adventure. Instead, it forms the storyline of a real summer event organised by Toulon’s public library network: “Pirates des Cara'Bib 2: Le Secret du Livre maudit”.

The treasure hunt runs until Saturday, 29 August 2026, during library opening hours. It is free and designed for families with children aged seven and over.

The idea is straightforward but effective. Rather than persuading young readers to enter one library and remain there, the game gives them a reason to leave it — in order to discover another.

Turning libraries into an adventure

The route extends across Toulon’s library network. Each stop contributes to the same story, while the logbook allows participants to progress through the mystery. For a few hours, a library is no longer simply somewhere to borrow a book. It becomes part of the narrative itself.

The idea has already been tested in Toulon. A first “Pirates des Cara'Bib” adventure was organised in 2022, when participants travelled between several “library islands”, solving puzzles in search of a treasure. Its return four years later suggests that the concept was more than a one-off summer activity.

Its main strength lies in avoiding the familiar opposition between reading, presented by adults as something worthwhile, and entertainment, assumed to be more exciting. Instead, the libraries borrow some of the mechanisms that make games appealing — progress, puzzles, exploration and storytelling — and use them to bring children back towards books.

A question far bigger than Toulon

That approach has particular significance in 2026.

The latest Centre national du livre study of French people aged 7 to 19 found that young people spend an average of 18 minutes a day reading books for pleasure, compared with 3 hours and 1 minute using screens. Conducted with a representative sample of 1,500 young people, the research also reports a decline in regular reading.

The figures do not mean that screens are inherently hostile to books. They do, however, illustrate the extraordinary amount of competition for young people’s free time.

Simply telling children that they should read more is unlikely to solve the problem. Turning a book into a mysterious object, a clue in an investigation or the gateway to an adventure offers a more tangible approach.

It also fits the theme chosen for the 2026 edition of Partir en Livre, the national reading festival organised by the Centre national du livre: “Nos petits et grands héros” — “Our Little and Great Heroes”. The national festival ran from 17 June to 19 July, while Toulon’s treasure hunt, part of the local programme connected to the event, continues until the end of August.

When games enter the library

The treasure hunt is not the only sign of this broader approach.

Toulon’s summer library programme places books alongside creative workshops, board games and video games. On 19 August, Médiathèque Chalucet is hosting a “Schtroumpfs Village Party” video-game challenge, followed by a four-player final on 26 August. On 22 August, two workshops for children aged four to eight will introduce them to colour and design through the creation of their own colour fans.

From a distance, it might appear that libraries are moving away from books. The opposite may be true.

The modern media library does not necessarily need rigid borders between different forms of cultural activity. A child can arrive for a game, notice a picture book, return for a workshop, borrow a comic and eventually move on to novels. These activities do not always compete with one another.

In that sense, the library becomes less of a silent sanctuary and more of an entrance into culture.

Giving children a reason to walk through the door

This is where “Pirates des Cara'Bib 2” becomes more interesting than an ordinary summer event.

Before people can enjoy libraries, they have to know them. Before they can borrow books, they must walk through the door. And if a child is to think of a library as a natural place to spend free time, there is no requirement for that first visit to begin with the silent reading of a classic.

It can begin with a pirate.

The method is almost disarmingly simple: use one story to lead children towards other stories. Yet that mechanism lies at the heart of children’s literature itself. Long before readers learn to analyse a text, they read because they want to know what happens next.

Where is the monster? What is hidden in the cursed book? What puzzle awaits in the next library?

They are small questions. But they create precisely what every campaign promoting reading ultimately hopes to achieve: the desire to turn the page.

In Toulon this summer, that next page may lead from one library to another. “Pirates des Cara'Bib 2: Le Secret du Livre maudit” remains available throughout the city’s library network until 29 August 2026, during opening hours, free of charge and for families with children aged seven and above.