I was fortunate that my edits for LET’S DANCE! and TOGETHER WE RIDE were minor. That’s the good thing about being minimalist with words from the start.

Since I use so few words in my books that feature sparse, rhyming text, there’s not a lot to edit. Sequels to her 2022 books (TOGETHER WE SWIM and BING, BOP, BAM: TIME TO JAM!) as well as a Scholastic Acorn early reader series, RAINBOW DAYS, are slated for 2023. In addition to RIDE, ROLL, RUN: TIME FOR FUN!, which Kirkus Reviews described as “pure joy,” Valerie Bolling is the author of TOGETHER WE RIDE, which has received starred reviews from the Horn Book and School Library Journal, and LET’S DANCE!, a 2021 SCBWI Crystal Kite award winner and CT Book Award finalist.

Looking through a specific lens may enable you to see something you didn’t previously and help you refine that particular aspect of the story. Sometimes it can be difficult to try to focus on everything at once. For example, you may want to read through your manuscript, looking only at language or at pacing. If I give just one tip, I would say that it can be helpful to focus on one story element at a time. It’s hard to narrow this down to one piece of advice, because I teach entire workshops on revision to both children and adults. What is the best piece of advice you would give to other writers regarding revision? This Field Trip Stinks by Becky Scharnhorst & Julia Patton.A Costume for Charly by CK Malone & Alejandra Barajas.Look and Listen by Dianne White & Amy Schimler-Safford.Big Wig by Jonathan Hillman & Levi Hastings.American Desi by Jyoti Gopal & Supriya Kelkar.Abdul’s Story by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow & Tiffany Rose.Good Night, Oppy! By James McGowan & Graham Carter.My Hands Tell a Story by Kelly Starling-Lyons & Tonya Engle.Please share your favorite books from 2021/2 that inspire you. Fortunately, amazing illustrators have created art that beautifully contributes to telling each story and helps depict the emotions. Regarding emotion, I try to make thoughtful choices about words so that I can convey what I want the reader to feel. How do you render your stories so sparse yet emotionally connected? What’s the editing process like?

You have a skill for saying a lot in few words. Please paste a short and compelling excerpt from your book. The sequel to RIDE, ROLL, RUN is BING, BOP, BAM: TIME TO JAM! and will be released next fall. In June 2020, Meredith Mundy, Editorial Director at Abrams Appleseed, acquired the book as part of a two-book deal. It was titled CITY FUN at the time of submission, and during the publication process, its title was changed to the current one. The first draft of RIDE, ROLL, RUN: TIME FOR FUN! (illustrated by Sabrena Khadija) was written in 2018.

Let's Dance! by Valerie Bolling