There is this difference: I believe what I wrote is true and it's definitely how I feel. That is not always the case when it comes to the back-scratching.

Over the years, the newsletter has evolved into a blog. I have officially become a children's librarian. I still read and love Horn Book Magazine for giving me notice of great books I should read.

I've never thought that my opinion was especially important. However, for readers who happen to enjoy the same sorts of books as I do, let me tell you about some of the wonderful books I've read lately! The cool part is that I've made some friends over the years simply because we seem to be kindred spirits in what we like to read.

I have to admit that I do enjoy learning that I'm getting more and more readers. I think people find blogs written by people whose opinions they value and writing they like (like Fuse8!) and read those. It's not a substitute for professional journals, but is a nice supplement.

As for blog reviews, they seem like a you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours club. I no longer read ANY reviews on blogs. I did at one time, though – and found Fuse8 particularly annoying: full of herself, long-winded, and far too subjective to be helpful.

A lot of it is about making connections which then turn around and help real kids or adults in a big way. See the support the Readergirlz have received across the kidlitosphere and the good they have done for teens not only in their monthly projects with their regular teen readers but also through the Teen Book Drop where they spearhead an effort to donate thousands of books a year from pubs to teens in children's hospitals.

Or there's the Book Fair for Boys that I spearheaded with InsideOut Writers in LA County just a couple of months ago. We spread the word across the lit blogosphere through connections I had made solely through blogging and everyone picked it up and thus far we have about 500 books for the boy incarcerated in the LA Country juvenile system – boys who had no library prior to this.

I bet you would find hundreds if not thousands of individual projects among lit/book bloggers to help people read or get books in the hands of those who do not have them. We don't always post about it, but we're doing it and working on more ways to do it better all the time.

It's who we are – and it's a big part of why we are in the lit blogosphere in the first place.

Actually, no, i wasn't thinking of you in particular. Just that I always see the phrase "love of books" and "community" come up as reason for blogging. I have nothing against it, really, and you and the others who responded are obviously extremely committed.

I just see so many blogs with no comments in the comments section or the same five people responding but then hear people sound very confident on this and other forums of all the good blogs are doing in terms of raising awareness for books and reading. It was curiosity more than anything …

Maybe I'm reading the wrong ones, but I do see a certain sameness of coverage and opinions yet couched in a variety of voices. I certainly don't think they're doing any harm.

They do seem time-consuming and hard to measure in terms of effectiveness, unlike the work you're doing one on one. I will, however, check out Jen's blog.

Pat

Since I feel that comment was directed towards me (since I mentioned love of books), let me respond.

I work in adult literacy. 8 hours a day, five days a week. It requires a patience I don't always have and most of the people that surround me day in and day out don't like books.

So for me, yes it's fun (and a lot of work, but a better kind) to have a book blog and while I don't intentionally talk about the same books as everyone else I do read what I WANT to read and so sometimes that might be the same as others.

As far as getting kids to read (by the way, not really a kitlit blogger), well I've been trying to figure out how to work that into my life and my blog more. I do really care about it, very much so after working with adults.