­Pizza Hut® BOOK IT!® Literacy Program Launches Website to 'Spark Your Greatness' Through Summer Reading

DALLAS, June 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- To kick off summer, the Pizza Hut® BOOK IT!® Program is launching a brand-new initiative to "Spark Your Greatness" and promote children's literacy at www.bookitsummer.com. Kids and their families will be challenged to complete reading tasks, download fun activities and play games to unlock items to customize their own dragon – not to mention win great prizes. This initiative will help slay the "Summer Slide," which is the loss of academic knowledge and skills that many children experience during the months-long break between school years. According to the U.S. Department of Education, students who do not participate in summer enrichment or learning activities during the break can lose 22 percent of the knowledge and skills they gained during the previous school year. ­­­­

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"Summer is a great time to continue reading aloud as a family and it can also help keep children motivated to read on their own during the school break," said Shelley Morehead, Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Program administrator. "BOOK IT! and Pizza Hut have been promoting children's literacy and getting kids excited about reading for 29 years, so Spark Your Greatness is an entertaining and natural extension for us."

The sweepstakes began June 24, 2013 and ends July 31, 2013. Official Rules can be found at www.bookitsummer.com. No purchase or payment is necessary. The sweepstakes is open to a person who is a legal U.S. citizen, at least 18 years of age as of June 24, 2013, residing in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia.

BOOK IT!, the longest-running corporate-supported reading incentive program in the country, was originally launched by  Pizza Hut in 1985. Today, the program reaches more than 680,000 classrooms and 14 million children annually. Teachers and librarians set monthly reading goals and present students with a reading award certificate when goals are met. Students take the certificates to a Pizza Hut restaurant, where they are congratulated by a team member and given a free, one-topping Personal Pan Pizza®. There is no purchase necessary and the pizza can be taken to go. 

The BOOK IT! Program is part of the "Share a Slice of Hope" movement at Pizza Hut. Share a Slice of Hope encourages consumers and Pizza Hut employees nationwide to help others through the company's philanthropic pillars: children's literacy and world hunger relief.

About BOOK IT!
In 1985, Pizza Hut established the BOOK IT! National Reading Incentive Program to motivate children to read more and help them develop a lifelong love of reading. BOOK IT! is a six-month program for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. For more information, visit www.pizzahut.com/bookit or keep up with BOOK IT! via its social media outlets @BOOKITprogram Facebook.com/BOOKIT1985.  

About Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), delivers more pizza, pasta and wings than any other restaurant in the world. The only pizza company to be named a top ten franchise in 2013 by Entrepreneur Magazine, Pizza Hut began 55 years ago in Wichita, Kansas, and today operates more than 10,000 restaurants in more than 90 countries. Pizza Hut also is the proprietor of the BOOK IT! ® Program, which is a long-standing children's literacy program used in more than 680,000 classrooms nationwide. In 2013, Pizza Hut is expected to surpass 4,000 WingStreet® locations. To order online from Pizza Hut, visit PizzaHut.com.

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Media Contact
Doug Terfehr
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SOURCE Pizza Hut