Pizza Hut's 40-Year-Old Reading Program Is Back This Summer And Kids Can Earn Free Pizza

Pizza Hut's beloved Book It program, which has been rewarding kids with free pizza for reading since 1984, is returning for summer with a new name and a new app just in time for the months when children are most at risk of losing their reading progress. The program, called Book It Summer of Stories, opens for enrollment on May 1st and runs through June, July, and August, giving children in pre-K through sixth grade the chance to earn a free personal pan pizza each month by meeting parent-set reading goals through the free Book It mobile app. The minimum to earn each monthly pizza is 20 minutes of reading per day for at least 15 days in the month, and families can register up to five children with a cap of five free pizzas per household per month. The program was created in response to the well-documented pattern in which many children lose months of reading progress over the summer break.

Pizza Hut says more than 14 million teachers, parents, and children have participated in the Book It program over the past four decades, making it one of the longest-running literacy incentive programs in the country. This year's app update removes the paper tracking materials of past years in favor of a digital system parents can update from anywhere, making it easier to monitor progress and redeem rewards without visiting a store. The program is free to join, requires no purchase to enroll, and works at participating Pizza Hut locations nationwide. Pizza Hut's chief people and culture officer said the program is about more than pizza: it is about giving parents a reason to sit down with their kids, set a shared goal, and celebrate when they reach it together.

Source:https://people.com/pizza-huts-book-it-summer-reading-program-returns-11960789