You probably already know this, but literacy rates in the United States are hitting record lows.
Last year's National Assessment of Educational Progress' (NAEP) National Report Card suggested that about one-third of eighth graders had below average reading skills. That's the lowest number since the NAEP began issuing the report in 1969. It also found that about 40% of fourth graders had below average reading skills.
The U.S. Department of Education responded to those numbers last year by suggesting that many kids fell behind during the pandemic, and they haven't been able to catch up. I know that's a big reason for it, but I don't think it's the only one.
About a year ago, I wrote about how only 41% of parents read to their preschool age children. Gen Z parents were less likely to do so than millennials or Gen X. Less than one-third of Gen Z parents said that reading to their kids was "fun" and around 28% of them only saw reading as a way to learn or as an essential skill — not a form of pleasure or entertainment.
That's a major problem. I've shared at length here in the past about how my parents worked hard to ensure I loved to read. My mom read to me as an infant. When I was a little older, she'd take me to the library once a week. When I could read on my own, my dad would take me to the local bookstore regularly to pick up the next Baby-Sitter's Club book after I'd finished the last one... even when I did so in less than 24 hours. We didn't have a ton of money, but my parents saw to it that I had access to books and the freedom to fall in love with the ones I wanted to read. My Christmas stockings and Easter baskets even contained books, and I received them as rewards when I did well in school. Today, I practically have my own library.
It breaks my heart to think that younger generations of parents aren't doing that.
Years later, when I was in college, I worked in the children's section at a large bookstore. I'll never forget one night before the school year started, a group of parents came in and asked me where the nonfiction children's books were. I showed them, and they told me that their children's teacher had decided she only wanted "educational" books in her classroom — no fiction, fairtyles, or stories of any kind. No imagination or creativity. I do not have children, so I don't know if that's the norm these days, but it seems like a miserable way to go through childhood.
While my parents did plenty to ensure I loved to read, there were other incentives for those of us who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. One that stands out was our summer reading programs. I got involved in every single one. I know there was one at my school, where you got a free Six Flag ticket if you read so many books. Our local library had a program with various activities and prizes, too.
And then there was Pizza Hut. Hit your reading goals, and you get to enjoy a free personal Personal Pan pizza. Your family might have eaten pizza every night of the week, but the little Personal Pan one you got just for reading books may as well have been the childhood version of filet mignon. Going to pick it up was always a momentous occasion — a symbol of pride. And best of all, even after we hit our goals, my friends and I just kept on reading because we'd enjoyed it so much.
Launched in 1984, Pizza Hut's president, Art Gunther, came up with the "Book It!" program to answer then-President Ronald Reagan's call for literacy support for the nation. Less than a year after its launch, "7 million students in 233,080 classrooms across the nation took advantage of the program."
While the Book It! program never really went away, it kind of lost its luster as my generation aged out. Apparently, people complained that it encouraged eating junk food, which also led several schools to opt out. There were also complaints about the digitization in recent years, and some of it was just cultural. The dine-in experience back then is not what it is today. As Not the Bee said earlier today, "If only the leather red booths, the lamps, and the buffet all came back … then we'd really be onto something."
If I had a time machine, I would have dinner tonight in a vintage Pizza Hut. pic.twitter.com/X4MTsgDdO1
— Tyler Roney (@TylerJRoney) April 20, 2022
Oh, take me back.
Pizza Hut announced this week that the Book It! program is officially back in 2026 and enrollment will be in full swing on May 1. Based on the number of media outlets reporting on it, I'm guessing they're going all out to ramp up enthusiasm and maybe trying to appeal to Gen X and millennial parents of younger children who might participate.
Kids who do participate must be in pre-K through sixth grade, and the program will run from June 1 until August 31. Kids can redeem a certificate for a free pizza once each of the three months.
I love this so much, and I think we need to do more of it. Encouraging younger children to love reading is one of the most important things we can do to raise the literacy rates in this country. And it does start at home, not in a classroom. Sadly, I think many parents would rather hand their child a screen instead of a book these days.
We need to make reading fun again, not just something you do at school.
