Librarian

• Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today that the application window has opened for the 2024 Unsung Heroes program , a nationwide initiative that funds innovative teaching ideas to improve curriculum and learning techniques.
• Open to K-12 educators, Voya’s Unsung Heroes program provides an opportunity for educators to secure resources to implement novel initiatives to help their students.
• Through the program each year 50 finalists are selected to receive a $2,000 grant based on the creativity of their ideas; the teaching method they apply; and the ability to positively influence students.
• Unsung Heroes is part of Voya Financial’s signature program, Voya Teacher Voices , which is focused on empowering teachers to become leaders by promoting the teaching career, recognizing high-achieving educators, providing training opportunities and offering financial support to achieve their goals.

• In her book Awakening, lawyer Areva Martin examines women in leadership and the lies they've been told.
• She urges women, "Don't allow yourself to think that there's something wrong with you… Don't stop speaking your mind."
• Jill Bausch writes about the need for the same determination in her book Why Brave Women Win.
• The core commitment of the LibraryBub service is to help librarians to identify acclaimed books from the independent publishing sector.

• The inaugural Libby Book Awards honor public librarians' best books of 2023 in 17 different categories.
• From BookTok sensations to a debut mystery thriller, the titles chosen for this year's Libby Book Awards are for books published in 2023 and are sure to be found on many readers' to-be-read lists.
• Winners run the gamut from New York Times bestselling author, Rebecca Ross, to novels such as To Shape a Dragons Breath.
• Here are the winners of the 2024 Libby Book Awards, organized by genre (see the full list of winners and finalists ):

• We also know video games, social media and TV and movies are very popular when they have down time.
• Our new research looks at how much Australian teenagers are reading for leisure, and how we can help them read more.

Our study

• At first, we specifically looked at book reading.
• Our survey showed showed 15% of students read daily, while 10% read four to six times a week.
• This last figure is broadly similar to our smaller 2016 survey which found 29% don’t read on a weekly basis and 21% don’t read any books in a month.
• Audiobooks were not popular either, with only 13% listening to audiobooks in their free time.

Why is it so important to read books?

• This is because it improves vocabulary and builds contextual knowledge relevant to study.
• Research also shows it is important to read longer books as opposed to shorter items such as emails or blog posts because sustained reading builds literacy for school success.

The 7 types of teen reader

• Our research, which also included 118 interviews with publishers and booksellers, English teachers and librarians, and 20 focus groups with teenagers, identified seven types of teen readers from our survey results.
• Fiction Fanatics: feel very positive about reading and read daily with a strong preference for fiction, and they read even more during holidays.
• They make up 12% of teen readers.
• They make up 10% of teen readers.
• They make up 10% of teen readers.

How can you help the teen in your life to read more?

• What do these categories mean for parents and teachers who want to help the teens in their life to read more?
• While Fiction Fanatics have an excellent idea of what they like, teens who read less often lack familiarity with the types of fiction available.
• So they may need help identifying the genres, themes or formats they might enjoy.

• Andrew Singleton receives funding from the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the Australian Research Council for research towards this project.
• Katya Johanson receives funding from the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the Australian Research Council for research towards this article.