Authors Panel: Authentic Voices In Early Readers with Valerie Bolling

Valerie Bolling is passionate about creating stories in which all children can see themselves and feel seen and heard, valued and validated. She is the author of six picture books -- LET’S DANCE! (SCBWI Crystal Kite Award winner), TOGETHER WE RIDE, TOGETHER WE SWIM (2023 Kirkus Prize Finalist), RIDE, ROLL, RUN: TIME FOR FUN!, BING, BOP, BAM: TIME TO JAM!, and I SEE COLOR (Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection) -- as well as a Scholastic Acorn early reader series, RAINBOW DAYS.

A graduate of Tufts University and Teachers College, Columbia University, Valerie was an educator for 30 years and is active in the kidlit community, teaching picture book classes (independently and for the Highlights Foundation), presenting at conferences, and participating in book festivals.

You can find out more about Valerie at valeriebolling.com/index.html. Valerie is represented by James McGowan. Here's the story about how Valerie and her agent found each other.

Valerie wrote her early reader Rainbow Days  series for Scholastic Acorn because she wanted to create inclusive stories for children. The series features a girl named Zoya and her dog, Coco, who love to make art.

After successfully publishing picture books like Let's Dance and because of her engagement with the kidlit community, Valerie became interested in Scholastic's call for books featuring BIPOC characters. Kate Corella, editorial director at Scholastic, recognized Valerie's talent and potential, and encouraged her to read as many early readers as she could. 

Valerie said that Kelly Starling Lyons was an early mentor, providing invaluable guidance and support. 

It's exciting to be providing books who are just becoming independent readers, says Valerie. She loves working on books that helps children see themselves.

Valerie's tips on writing early readers:

You need to read many books in the genre.

You need an engaging story.

Create a character that you really love and that you can live with. What makes your character special? For example in Valerie's Rainbow Days series, Zoya is a character associated with glitter. When she figures something out, she always says, "oh, oh, I know!" This makes it more fun for the creator and the reader.

Early reader series is not necessarily the genre you should lead with when you're querying, says Valerie.

Bonus info:

In terms of scheduling, all three of the books in Rainbow Days came out within a year. 

Valerie says in her experience, picture books pay more. She points out that this might differ, depending on the context (individual author, illustrator, publisher). She also said that for her early reader series, she received payment after the third/final book came out.