Remembering Book It!: National Young Readers’ Week

Photo via Doobybrain

Remember those childhood trips to Pizza Hut — that greasy pizza justified by the fact that you were picking up a Book It! star? Those hologram buttons proudly displayed on your Jansport? How many of you thought that this program was long gone, that the program dissolved when buttons went out of style and the Boxcar Children stopped going on adventures?

Well, believe it or not, the Boxcar Children are still going on adventures and the Book It! program is still thriving. This week marks the 23rd year of National Young Readers’ Week — an event co-founded by Pizza Hut and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. That’s right — stuffed crust meets Washington, D.C.

The Book It! program has evolved a bit since the mid-80s — minutes and books are logged online and this year, in addition to the Pizza Hut sponsorship, Book It! is partnered with Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Today’s Book It! program even features a lemur named Dewey who teaches card-holding young readers how to utilize their library.

Visit the Book It! website to learn more, and relive a bit of your childhood.