Beat It!

For those of you unfamiliar with Book It!, first of all, you’re missing out. The reading program rewards students with Pizza Hut 6-inch Personal Pan pizzas for meeting reading goals set in the classroom. Reading? Pizza? Reading AND pizza? My 6-year-old self was in heaven.

The program is simple. From October 1 through March 31, participating teachers set a monthly reading goal for each student. Those who meet the goal get a certificate they can redeem at Pizza Hut for a free Personal Pan Pizza.

Critics have, of course, come out to denounce the program. I recently read an article on CNN (see, still reading…) that details the positives and negatives of Book It! and I feel the need to state my support. The opponents in the article make a number of ridiculous claims, which I seek to destroy one by one.

One of the criticisms is that it turns teachers into “corporate promoters.” This, the most valid of their points, still makes anger boil up inside me. The corporation isn’t sponsoring gang violence. It isn’t promoting smoking, drinking or other illicit behavior. All things considered, there are far worse things that corporations could be doing other than promoting literacy and delicious pizza.

The other big problem with pairing pizza and reading is, you guessed it, the pizza. With childhood obesity on the upswing, experts worry that the Book It! program will encourage junk food consumption and contribute to the already growing problem (pun not totally intended). Although I excelled at reading, I was also decent at math. And if I did the math correctly, with the program running for six months, and with monthly reading goals, even the most bookish child is entitled to no more than six pan pizzas. One pizza a month. A personal pan pizza, with pepperoni, comes in at 640 calories. It takes 3,500 calories, on top of your normal calorie requirements, to gain one pound. As you can see, this one pizza isn’t enough to cause massive weight gain.

In the article, Susan Linn, a Harvard psychologist and co-founder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, claims that the program undermines parents by positioning family visits to Pizza Hut as an integral component of raising literate children. I think this is going a bit far. The program doesn’t say, “You will raise illiterate children if you don’t participate in Book It!” It says, “Read and get rewarded!”

Linn also asserts that schools are trying to reduce students’ access to soda, and contends that Book It! should face similar scrutiny. Talk about comparing apples and oranges. The kid isn’t going to go up to the Pizza Hut vending machine and consume crazy amounts of pizzas every day. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood site could be a whole other blog entry. It discusses companies marketing to kids, ’tweens and teens. The site mentions the Bratz dolls’ book line, which is promoted to kids through Scholastic book fairs. I’ve seen these dolls, and if my children ever want to bring home these pseudo-prostitutes, they would have to go through me, which is the point: We’re forgetting the fact that the parents are responsible. Kids aren’t driving to the Pizza Hut to gorge on pizza. Kids aren’t at Target purchasing Bratz dolls. Parents seem to be an element that has been left out of the equation. Parents are the ones responsible for their children, from what goes into their mouths to what goes into their brain to what TV programs they watch. If the child is active, as a child should be, one pizza a month won’t cause him to be obese. It’s up to the parent to say “no” to their child. It’s not Verizon Wireless’ fault that kids are getting cell phones. It’s not Pizza Hut’s fault children are obese. People are responsible for their own actions and people need to stop trying to point their fingers at everything EXCEPT the problem itself. If overall lifestyles were balanced—exercise, healthy foods—a few splurges a month on pizza isn’t going to cause obesity.

While some kids may try to be sneaky and get out of reading at their level, (see who might do this) most kids won’t try to do this. I was 414-books crazy, and would have read whether I got rewarded for it or got punished for it. Not all kids are like that, but the ones who don’t like to read should be encouraged to do it. It can only help them out down the road, and I think Pizza Hut’s program helps the cause. I’m not saying the program is a cure-all. It takes parental encouragement, good teachers and good books to get kids to love reading, and some never will. But the program shouldn’t get the boot because the program is not the problem.

But the article didn’t only tell the bad side:

“We’re really proud of the program,” said Leslie Tubbs, its director for the past five years. “We get hundreds of e-mails from alumni who praise it and say it helped them get started with reading.”