Book-It!

17th January, 2009 2 Comments

As far as I can remember, I’ve always been an avid reader – as are many of my relatives.  I’m constantly using their personal book collections as my personal libraries. 

For those without the genetic predisposition to be bibliophiles, there are suggestions and research that say reading to kids and encouraging them to read will help build an eternal love of books.  Growing up, I was a part of a program called  BOOK-IT! – which is why I so vividly remember the inside of the library with big windows and lots of sunshine.  This was probably in 1986 - we were new to Vermont and living in a condo a short walk from the local high school.

For those not in the know – Book-It! was a summer program to keep kids reading while school was not in session.  Looking at their website, it now seems to run during the school year from October to March.  Anyway, the way it works is, kids get a list of books for their reading level and for every five (?) they read (or accumulated time spent reading) they get a free pizza at Pizza Hut.  When you are six, this is awesome.  You would get a button with greyed stars, and the library would add a star sticker for each book you read.  When you showed up at Pizza Hut with your filled pin it was pizza time (personal pan).  I must have gone through so many pins each summer!

Perusing the website, I saw one of the buttons I had for various years (pictured).  While I think it would be cool to have an adult program of sorts to encourage life-long reading, there isn’t.  There is, however,  a contest: provide a photo of you wearing a pin as a child and potentially win a year’s worth of pizza.  That could be a lot of pizza!

Anyway, for readers with kids, I highly encourage you to get your kid enrolled in the program.  It’s a great way to introduce your kids to reading and a nice way to spend quality time reading with them.  I loved participating and might need to see if those old pins are lying around somewhere!

*The (+1) is a book I already read and the third in a series.  Since I received the first two as gifts, I swiped the final installment from my mother’s shelves…with permission.

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