Back to Press RoomBOOK IT! is kicking off its 35th year in partnership with New York Times Best Selling author AND a 35% off pizza deal
PLANO, Tex. (May 2, 2019) – More than three decades after being created by Pizza Hut, the now iconic BOOK IT! Program is kicking off its 35th year by introducing its newest author partner, Tom Angleberger, author of the New York Times bestselling Origami Yoda series.
As the author partner, Tom will work with BOOK IT! to continue encouraging students across classrooms nationwide to find the joy in reading. Throughout the 2019-2020 school year, his renowned Origami Yoda series – which includes popular books The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, Darth Paper Strikes Back and The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee – will be incorporated into all BOOK IT! classrooms, teacher materials and website creative.
“The BOOK IT! Program has a legacy of fostering a love for books by showing children reading can be more than a homework assignment, instilling great habits from the very start,” said Angleberger. “I couldn’t be more excited to join the renowned BOOK IT! family and incorporate the Origami Yoda series into classrooms nationwide for students and teachers to enjoy.”
In celebration of the program’s new author partner and Angleberger’s nationally recognized Star Wars-inspired book series, Pizza Hut will unveil a nationwide deal available only on Star Wars Day, May the 4th, where customers will receive 35% off all menu-priced items, in celebration of the program’s 35th anniversary. The promotion is available for online orders only at participating locations, and customers can redeem the deal on their oven-hot pizza using code ORIGAMIYODA.
Additionally, Pizza Hut will donate 10,000 copies of Angleberger’s books to educators via First Book – a nonprofit social enterprise that supports educators serving kids in need with affordable access to new, high-quality, curated books and educational resources.
“As we enter our 35th year of inspiring children to read, partnering with Tom couldn’t have been a better fit to celebrate this milestone,” said Natasha Collins, manager, Pizza Hut BOOK IT! program. “His passion for motivating children to read combined with his unique, imaginative approach to literacy is bringing new and creative ways to further BOOK IT!’s mission. We’re thrilled to align with a partner like Tom to kick off the next 35 years of impacting classrooms across the country.”
Angleberger joins BOOK IT! as the program’s third author partner. Previous BOOK IT! partners have included Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series, and most recently, Kate DiCamillo, author of many beloved books for young readers, including the Newbery Medal-winning Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures.
While best-known for his Origami Yoda series – a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling series – Angleberger is also known for his Fake Mustache and Horton Halfpott, both Edgar Award nominees, and the Qwikpick Papers series. His latest chapter book series Didi Dodo, Future Spy follows a dodo bird spy on food-related capers.
Building on its legacy of fostering a love for reading in the classroom, this year BOOK IT! unveiled a digital platform that provides a seamless way for educators and parents to enroll in the program, track progress and give reading rewards. With this addition, there is no limit to the number of classrooms that can participate, further helping BOOK IT! reach its goal of impacting one million classrooms by end of 2020. To date, BOOK IT! has impacted more than 65 million students nationwide, motivating children from kindergarten to sixth grade to read, rewarding students who meet their monthly reading goal with praise, recognition, and of course, pizza.
For more information, visit www.BOOKITprogram.com or follow BOOK IT! on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About Lucasfilm, Ltd.
Lucasfilm, Ltd. is among the world’s leading entertainment service companies, a pioneer in visual effects and sound across multiple mediums, and is home to the legendary Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. Founded by visionary filmmaker George Lucas in 1971, Lucasfilm was acquired in December 2012 by The Walt Disney Company, a leading diversified international entertainment and media enterprise.
About ABRAMS
Founded in 1949, ABRAMS was the first company in the United States to specialize in publishing art and illustrated books. Now a subsidiary of La Martinière Groupe, the company continues to publish critically acclaimed and bestselling works in the areas of art, photography, cooking, craft, comics, interior and garden design, entertainment, fashion, and popular culture; children’s books ranging from young adult fiction to picture books to board books. ABRAMS creates and distributes brilliantly designed visual books with the highest production values under the following imprints: Abrams; Abrams ComicArts; Abrams Image; Abrams Press; Abrams Books for Young Readers; Amulet Books; Abrams Appleseed; and a gift and stationery line, Abrams Noterie. ABRAMS also distributes books published by The Vendome Press, V&A Publishing, Tate Publishing, Booth-Clibborn Editions, 5 Continents Editions, SelfMadeHero, The Museum of Modern Art, Cameron + Company, Getty Publications, and others.
About Pizza Hut®
Pizza Hut, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), has more restaurant locations in the world than any other pizza company. Founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kan., Pizza Hut operates over 18,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries.
With easy order options including the Pizza Hut app, mobile site, and Amazon and Google devices, Pizza Hut is committed to providing an easy pizza experience – from order to delivery – and has Hut Rewards, the Pizza Hut loyalty program that offers points for every dollar spent on food any way you order.
Pizza Hut is also the proprietor of The Literacy Project, an initiative designed to enable access, empower teachers and inspire a lifelong love of reading. The program is rooted in the foundation set by the Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Program, which is the longest-running corporate supported literacy program, impacting more than 14 million students each year. For more information, visit www.pizzahut.com. Pizza Hut is the Official and Only Pizza Sponsor of the NFL and NCAA®.
Contact:
Brett LeVecchio, Pizza Hut
972.338.6730 / Brett.LeVecchio@yum.com