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Getting kids to read can be a challenge with distractions like TV and smartphones around. As the school year races closer, Pizza Hut wants to help teachers and parents encourage children to build better reading habits with its annual Book It Program.
The Book It Program, originally launched in 1984, reaches more than 14 million students, including 37,600 elementary schools each year. This reading-incentive program is free for all classroom teachers and homeschooling educators to use for their elementary-age students.
The concept of the Book It program is simple but effective: meet your reading goal, get free pizza.
Teachers and homeschooling parents set individual monthly reading goals for each student. It doesn’t matter whether its the total number of books read, the total number of minutes or even the total amount of pages read. For those students who can’t read independently, Book It allows for books students read with teachers or parents to count toward their monthly goal. Every student in a class reads at his or her own level.
Once the monthly goal is set, the kids get to work on meeting it. At the end of the month, when students reach their personal monthly reading goal, they receive a reading award certificate, which is good for a free, one-topping Personal Pan Pizza. We think that’s a delicious incentive to build a positive reading habit.
As a bonus reward, Pizza Hut’s Book It Program has three free ebooks parents can download to enjoy with their participating student. Simply visit amazon.com/bookit to get your free books, which include “Those Shoes,” a picture book by Maribeth Boelts; “Leroy Ninker Saddles Up” by Kat DiCammilo; and “Ruby Redfort Look Into My Eyes” by Lauren Child.
Book It begins in October and runs through March, but you can enroll students now.
In addition to the Book It certificate program, Pizza Hut has a large-scale literacy initiative that includes creative ideas to get kids interacting with the books they read. The Book It website has guides for crafts, storytelling, games and much more to make the reading experience leap off the page.
Happy reading and pizza eating!
Marie is a freelance writer and content creator with more than 20 years of experience in journalism. She lives in southwest Ohio with her husband and is almost a full-fledged empty nest mom of two daughters. She loves music, reading, word games, and Walt Disney World. You can find her writing about her personal health journey at marierossiter.substack.com and connect with her at [email protected] More.
