Finally… some good news.
If there’s anything that the world needed in 2026, it’s the return of the Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Summer Reading Program. Does that ring a bell for readers out there? For those that did participate as a kid, there was nothing better than reading books and being rewarded for it through personal, pan pizzas.
Now as an adult, I read books and… get no pizza. It’s not a fair trade off, in my opinion.
The initiative started in the mid-1980s when then-President Ronald Reagan wished to boost literacy rates in the younger demographic. The President of Pizza Hut at the time, along with the marketing executive, came up with the idea to give free pizza to kids if they reached certain reading requirements. It was a huge success and really exploded in the ’90s as a collaboration with schools around the country.
Hopefully you have memories of going to the Pizza Hut – with the red-and-white-checkered table cloths and tall, maroon cups – and digging in to a pizza of your own as a kid. The BOOK IT! Program definitely worked for me, and there was nothing I looked forward to more than reading my books and grubbing on some ‘za from the Hut.
The great news is BOOK IT! and Pizza Hut have teamed up to bring back the Summer of Stories program, and made the exciting announcement earlier this month. Kids pre-K through 6th grade will be able to take advantage of the free program from June 1 to August 31, and can sign up through the BOOK IT! App:
“SUMMER OF STORIES IS BACK! Enrollment opens May 1st—get ready to turn reading time into pizza time! This summer, keep your kids’ reading, learning, and loving books… all while earning FREE pizza.”
There’s nothing better than free pizza.
Basically, how it works is that readers aim for milestones, and when they reach them, they are given digital Reading Award Certificates. Those are redeemable for a free, one-topping personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. They are allowed to redeem one certificate per month, and I know we are talking about reading, but the math is simple really… read books, get pizza.
Though it’s great to see that it’s back, not everyone is excited about the program’s limitations. What do I mean by that? Well, all the Gen X and millennials that participated in Book It! back in the day are yearning for the program to return for… adults. I’m not kidding. Just look at some of the comments that were left below the announcement post:
“Millennials are begging you to include adults please.”
“If we still have our purple pins, can we do an adult version?”
“Where is the Book It! Program FOR parents?! Please bring it back.”
“Ok but what if we don’t have kids and want to participate? Asking for myself and my inner child who loved this program.”
“Can this please come back for millennials? I feel we need this more than the kids do.”
The idea of adults being rewarded with pizza for reading books might seem a little silly, but if it’s in the name of nostalgia, it might be worth it. Plus, Pizza Hut would undoubtedly get some great, free publicity if they did an adult program. So as crazy as it sounds, I could see it happening down the road.
