Warsaw Community Public Library staff member Duane Herendeen reads aloud to kids at Preschool Story Time at the library. Preschool Story Time with activity stations takes place at 10:15 a.m. Mondays and Fridays. Toddler Story Time is offered at 10:15 a.m. Wednesdays. Photo provided by Warsaw Community Public Library.

By Amy Mann
Children’s Department
Warsaw Community Public Library

WARSAW — How are pizza, a food that kids adore, and reading, a pastime that we want kids to love as well, linked?

Let’s go back 40 years to 1984, to Pizza Hut’s corporate office in Wichita, Kan. After President Ronald Reagan encouraged American businesses to get more involved in education, then-president of Pizza Hut, Arthur Gunther, met with Kansas educators and came up with “Book It.” When children in the program met a monthly reading goal from October to March, they received a certificate, swag, like buttons and bookmarks, and a free, one-topping personal pan pizza. The program was rolled out nationwide in 1985. In those nearly 40 years, more than 70 million children have participated and Pizza Hut has given away 1.5 billion free pizzas.

In 1989, Pizza Hut extended Book It by organizing a weeklong reading event that brought local figures into schools to demonstrate the importance of reading to children. This week was called National Young Readers Week. The event was created alongside the Library of Congress’ Center for the Book. Pizza Hut challenged school principals to “become shining examples for literacy by choosing one day to read their hearts out all day long, from first bell to the last, during National Young Readers Week.”

National Young Readers Week is held each year during the second week of November, which this year is Nov. 11-15. How can you celebrate with Warsaw Community Public Library? Reading readiness is the first step toward children who love books. The parent education initiative “Every Child Ready to Read,” led by the Public Library Association, lists five areas of concentration. These are singing, talking, shared reading, writing and playing. More information can be found at everychildreadytoread.org.

The Public Library Association offers some tips for helping little ones build their vocabularies. First, have plenty of conversations, using questions and responses from both parties. Read together. A lot. Make connections in real life to what you read about. Repetition also builds vocabulary. Reading the same book over and over can be a good thing.

Another great step is to sign up for “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten.” Stop by the Children’s Department to learn more and get going. Reading only three books a day with your child will complete the program in one year. Log their books (repetition is fine), and get a bag and a free book after completing the challenge.