Read Up: Book It! Case

The Book It! Program

Established in 1984 by PepsiCo executive Art Gunther as a way for Pizza huts to connect with their communities, the BOOK IT! program has inspired kids to read. Gunther took as his inspiration his own son’s lack of interest in reading. The BOOK IT! concept was simple: Teachers set reading goals for their students, and if a student achieved the goal, they would get a personal pan pizza from their local Pizza Hut. This extra bit of motivation drove millions of kids across the United States to read more books.

The BOOK IT! program currently reaches over fourteen million students and 37,000 K-6 schools per year.

Did You Know?

Eunice Ellis, who administered the national BOOK IT! program from 1986 to 2002, has a reading corner named in her honor in the Wichita Public Library’s Evergreen branch.

Case contents: Book It! T-shirt, Book It! button, Book It! pencils, Book It! bookmark. Courtesy of Pizza Hut/Yum! Brands, 2018.2.1, 2018.2.2, 2018.2.3a-d, 2018.2.6 Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology.