Perhaps the worst part of growing up is losing eligibility to participate in Pizza Hut's BOOK-IT!
When finishing books couldn't offer us the satisfaction we were seeking, there was always BOOK-IT! to ensure a personal pan pizza was waiting for us at the end of every month for our effort, nonetheless.
Today, the hurt of a pizza-less literary world will momentarily subside, because Pizza Hut has announced for its 30th anniversary of BOOK-IT!, it will be offering teachers and alums their own free personal pan pizza.
While this effort certainly won't make up for the decades of unaccounted-for books we read, it will launch an expansive alum network that uses user-submitted info (elementary school, current occupation, and location) to create an interactive map. Also, there will be BOOK-IT! historical facts and a #BOOKITKid hashtag social stream.
Pizza Hut's recent video upload features a handful of teachers and alums (and wait, what is Blake Shelton doing here?) speaking to their meaningful experiences as former BOOK-IT! members.
According to CNN Money, BOOK-IT! is the longest-running corporate-supported reading program in the country and has helped 60 million children read more than 54 billion minutes.
Pizza Hut had a few additional stats demonstrating the club's reach, one of which was posted from the official Pizza Hut Twitter account:
Roughly 1 in 5 Americans have participated in BOOK IT! over the past three decades. #BOOKITKid
— Pizza Hut (@pizzahut) October 2, 2014
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Along with these numbers, came two additional announcements: Pizza Hut will be launching a BOOK-IT! mobile app for kids that provides a reading dragon companion and fake-money incentives. Also, it will be giving one current BOOK-IT! kid the chance to win 30 thousand dollars toward college.
You can register here any time between October 1-10 if you are, indeed, a nostalgic, pizza-craving BOOK-IT! Kid. You don't even need to read a book first.
BONUS: 12 Weirdest Pizzas Ordered by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles