Americans of a certain age (this elder millennial included) view reading as a competition for a reason. In the 1980s and 1990s, public school kids devoured as many books as possible for the ultimate prize — a free personal pan pizza. Now, a local bookstore wants to recreate this experience with an all-ages summer reading program.
White Whale Bookstore in Bloomfield announced Summer’s Book’d, a seasonal initiative encouraging kids, teens, and adults to keep reading during Pittsburgh’s hotter months. Inspired by the Pizza Hut Book It! program, Summer’s Book’d challenges participants to read at least eight books between July 1 and August 31, and concludes with a celebratory September pizza party.
“As a kid, I was absolutely obsessed with Pizza Hut’s [BOOK IT!] program,” Jill Yeomans, owner of White Whale, tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “Elementary school can be such a crucial time for developing a real love of books and reading, and the contest element, along with the promise of free pizza, had every kid I knew in its grip. I had always enjoyed reading, but [BOOK IT!] definitely pushed me to inhale books at an unprecedented rate.”
She adds that many of the books she read during those years, such as Island of the Blue Dolphins, Bridge to Terabithia, and Where the Red Fern Grows, “remain favorites and still crisp in my memory.”
“And it felt unbelievably special to bring my whole family in to claim my personal pan pizza as a reward for an otherwise very solitary activity,” she continues. “It made reading feel cool and special, and that was the absolute best. I know a lot of people feel nostalgic for the ’90s and for that program in particular, so we thought, why not give the people what they want, buttons, stickers, pizza, and all?”
Yeomans explains that participants will pick up a Summer’s Book’d button at White Whale. They will also pick up or print out a sheet featuring a circular pizza-shaped tracker with eight numbered slices, on which readers record the title and short blurb for each book they read. Each completed slice/book will earn the reader a bubble sticker to be added to their button.
She stresses that Summer’s Book’d titles do not need to be purchased at the store, and can be borrowed for free from local libraries. Unlike BOOK IT!, the program is also open to readers of all ages.
BOOK IT! was launched by Pizza Hut in 1984 to, as a recent press release puts it, motivate children in pre-K through sixth grade to “achieve literacy goals by rewarding their accomplishments” with free, one-topping Personal Pan Pizzas from participating locations. The franchise touts BOOK IT! as “one of the nation’s longest-running corporate-supported reading initiatives,” and inspiring “over 70 million children to develop a love of reading.”
The program also serves to prevent what education and literacy experts call the “summer slide,” defined as a loss of reading and math skills over the months when children are not in school.
In late May, Pizza Hut kicked off its BOOK IT! Summer of Stories initiative, by releasing an app for parents to help their kids track completed books and earn rewards.
Summer’s Book’d and the BOOK IT! Summer of Stories add to other local and nationwide reading initiatives. In May, Scholastic, another well-known name in literacy, launched its latest Read-a-Palooza Summer Reading Challenge, described as a “free, educational program in which kids can enter reading minutes online to unlock exclusive digital rewards and help donate books to kids in need across the country.”
In addition, the 2025 CLP Summer Reading Program — kicked off on April 31 at the Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books — urges Pittsburgh residents of all ages to read and log as many books as they can by August 10 for chances to win prizes that include a family membership to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium, a Nintendo Switch, a pair of Beats headphones, and more. CLP also announced a “grand mystery prize” that will be “unlocked when the city-wide 80,000-book reading goal is met.”
While White Whale makes it clear that Summer’s Book’d is not affiliated in any way with BOOK IT!, Yeomans says that, much like Pizza Hut’s famous program, the mission is the same.
“We wanted to launch Summer’s Book’d because these hotter months, when many people take vacations and kids are out of school, are always a great time to get back to reading, and a community challenge — especially when you get stickers —can be a great motivator,” she adds.
This article appears in Jun 25 – Jul 1, 2025.
