Adults Recreate Pizza Hut's Book It! Summer Reading Challenge

Pizza Hut's Book It! program, which ran from 1984 and involved over 70 million children, has inspired a wave of nostalgia-driven adult reading challenges. Adults like Jill Nawrocki of Brooklyn, New York, are recreating the program with friends, complete with bingo cards and pizza parties. Bookstores such as Loudmouth Books in Indianapolis, founded by Leah Johnson, are running adult summer reading programs with pizza parties and Scholastic Book Fairs for adults. The program's return, including its 'Summer Stories' edition, sparked online nostalgia from older generations. Experts note that while extrinsic motivation like Book It! can be an 'amplifier' for already motivated readers, it is insufficient for building long-term reading habits. The program also had a significant impact on children from low-income families, as recalled by participants like Terrance of Kentucky and Matt Bukowski of Virginia. Pizza Hut's Book It! is also commemorated in the Pizza Hut Museum at Wichita State University, where Lisa Parcell, a professor, notes it was one of the 'most clever moves in brand history.' The trend highlights broader concerns about declining reading for pleasure among adults and children.