BOOK IT!, the national reading incentive program created by Pizza Hut, is beginning its 28th year with enrollment in 680,000 classrooms across the country. More than 14 million students in 38,000 schools are involved in the BOOK IT! reading program.
In May, BOOK IT! announced it has joined with author Jeff Kinney and his book series "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" for the 2012-2013 school year. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" is integrated into all BOOK IT! classroom materials, teacher printables and web creative at bookitprogram.com.
"Year after year, the Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Program continues to reach new kids with a positive message about how rewarding reading can be," said Shelley Morehead, BOOK IT! Program administrator. "Through our 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' partnership and our 28 years of advancing literacy, we're fortunate to have such tremendous support from schools around the country who want to make it great."
With this new integration comes a fresh BOOK IT! tagline: "Read Your Heart Out,"TM motivating children to make reading an important part of everyday life. The "Read Your Heart Out" Quest involves 5 steps for young readers: rally readers, track reading minutes, take on the Principal's Challenge, read to help kids who are hungry and share your love of reading. Resources are available for each step of the Quest at https://www.bookitprogram.com/readyourheartout/
"Our team developed the 'Read Your Heart Out' Quest in an effort to make reading that much more fun for students, teachers and parents," said Morehead. "BOOK IT! students can read for a cause, principals can show their school the importance of literacy with wacky reading stunts and teachers can make reading a learning adventure in their classrooms."
BOOK IT! is drawing on its partnership with the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series to further encourage the "Read Your Heart Out" theme. One of the most successful children's book series ever published, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books have been on multiple national bestsellers lists since publication of the original volume in 2007. There are more than 75 million copies in print in over 40 countries around the world.
"The BOOK IT! Program and 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' are a perfect match," added Jeff Kinney, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" author. "Both BOOK IT! and 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' are passionate about bringing reading to life in a fun and relevant way."
The BOOK IT! reading incentive program, launched by Pizza Hut in 1985, reaches more than 680,000 classrooms and 14 million children annually. Teachers and librarians set monthly goals and present students with a reading award certificate when goals are met. Students take the certificates to a Pizza Hutrestaurant, where they are congratulated by a team member and given a free, one-topping Personal Pan Pizza®. There is no purchase necessary and the pizza can be taken to go.
The BOOK IT! Program is part of the "Share a Slice of Hope" movement at Pizza Hut. Share a Slice of Hope encourages consumers and Pizza Hut employees nationwide to help others through the company's three philanthropic pillars: children's literacy, world hunger relief and community involvement.
