When I was a kid, I loved the Pizza Hut Book It program.

It encompassed two of my childhood favorites — books and pizza. Nothing was better to me than savoring a personal pan pizza which I earned by simply just reading books. My parents would take my sister and I to Pizza Hut and they would give us a couple of quarters to play a song on the jukebox while we ate.

I thought that this was the ultimate reward and I worked hard every month to meet my reading goal.

Goal setting is a skill that is taught in classrooms from a young age. Reaching a reading goal in essence means that a student has improved their reading ability which is what we want all of our students to accomplish.

When I was a high school English teacher, I instructed my students in creating, revising, and working towards their reading goals. Then, after students met their goals, we would celebrate their successes.

When I became a librarian, I began working to help students of all grade levels to meet their reading goals by providing materials that best matched their interests and abilities as readers.

This week in library class, I was discussing the transition from reading picture books to chapter books with my students and I used the phrase, “reading for enjoyment.” Several students looked at me puzzled, then one raised their hand and asked, “What does reading for enjoyment mean?”

So often when students are working to reach reading goals they see reading as just an assignment or another academic goal to be met, not as an opportunity to learn something new or learn a life skill.

It worries me that students who only read to fulfill an assignment or reach a goal won’t find enjoyment in reading and grow stagnant in their reading abilities. They will then continue to rely on others to set their reading goals instead of being intrinsically motivated to set their own goals or develop their reading interests independently.

I often hear, “I don’t like to read.”

My librarian motto is, “If you don’t like reading, you haven’t found the right book yet.”

Because of this, I work diligently to connect students to books that match their interests and reading abilities. We discuss books that they have enjoyed in the past and books that they have not enjoyed. I encourage students to try new genres and recommend books that they should read. I work to help students find their “just right books.”

My goal as a librarian is to develop life-long readers. I want students to rely less on their desire to earn a physical reward as they grow older because they have developed an appreciation for reading that inspires them to continue reading as an adult.

As adults, the extrinsic motivation of a personal pan pizza may not be our reading motivation but our reading experiences often inspire our desire to meet a goal.

My days of earning Book It Program rewards are over but I will forever remember how amazing it felt to earn a free pizza each month and know that I earned it.

At some point the reward of a pizza meant less to me than reading a really great book did. Now, I read for enjoyment because I want to — not because I’m getting a grade or I’m getting a prize. However, if someone wanted to give me a personal pan pizza for every book I read now, I sure wouldn’t complain.

This month, channel your inner child and read a great book — and then reward yourself with pizza afterwards.

Michelle Hilburn is the president of the Cassville Area Friends of the Library and a librarian at Purdy schools. She may be reached at mhilburn@
purdyk12.com.