FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Justin Badger
Gallopade International
800-536-2438 ext. 40
April 19, 2010
(SAVANNAH, GA)—Carole Marsh, working in her second story, indoor gazebo overlooking 1800s
Savannah, Georgia is completing what is the first children’s book series for the upcoming 150th Anniversary of the Civil War. If you are picturing a dull, textbook tome—get over it! “This ain’t yo’ grandpappy’s Civil War book!” claims the author. Indeed, a quick peek at pasted up pages shows a wow and wonderful combination
of excellent facts couched in a charming graphic novel surrounded by what some
of us would call
Mad magazine art.
“Do we want kids to care or not?” asks Marsh, clearly a little testy after six months of immersion in the Civil
War. “Kids study this in school, yes. But do they get the larger implications of what we can learn from this
dramatic, bloody, unfortunate history? My goal is that they are blown away by the people, the facts, the vivid
comparison between why we had war then and why we still have war now.”
Marsh is not a novice at enticing young readers to really care about history. Her Real Kids! Real Places! America’s National Mystery Series is a global sensation, featuring contemporary mysteries set in real locales
featuring real characters, including herself.
“Go to any Civil War museum and look at the black and brown and dull and boring
(to kids) books...uh, uh,” says the author, “we ain’t gonna get ’em that way!” The covers of Marsh’s six new titles, created by renowned designer Vicki DeJoy, are a combo of funky
and radical. The insides, designed by Marsh, are text-based graphic novels awash in drama,
commentary, speedy but thorough story, all in first person, and often in the
words of the actual participants. “Let’s go there, let’s be there!” demands the author, who has a national following among readers 7-14 and their
parents and teachers.
“You think kids don’t know war?” asks the author. “I am writing these a stone’s throw from Fort Stewart, Georgia. Kids know war. Let’s help them gain perspective, appreciation, and true understanding of how wars
happen and how they might be avoidable.”
Marsh pulls no punches in her six titles: Who Were The Key Players in The Civil War?, What Was The Civil War All About
Anyway?, Where Did the Civil War Happen?, When Did it Happen in the Civil War?,
Civil War Trivia and Civil War Resource Book. Each book has a more extensive subtitle to help parents and teachers, as well as
the Civil War museums chomping at the bit for these timely titles, understand
that this is the real deal: education plus enticement so that kids will really
read them, get them and learn.
“Yes, I am passionate!” says Marsh. “But I am equally passionate about anything I write. I have no axe to grind, no bias to share. I am all about the kids.”
For more than 30 years now, America’s teachers, librarians and booksellers agree. “You can’t imagine the following she has,” says publisher, Michele Yother. “Kids clamor to be characters in the books, teachers follow her blog, we have to
hustle to keep her titles in stock in America’s top museums, libraries, but also in book fairs, schools, libraries and more.”
Wars come and wars go, but seldom does anyone hunker down and care what kids
think. “The next war could be their war,” worries Marsh, who has grandchildren who apply to that scenario. “They deserve a chance to make a better world. One Civil War is enough. And just look at the media! We are still fighting over states’ rights and, in Richmond, Virginia and Mississippi, at least, what the Civil War
was and wasn’t about. How current events and relevant can you get!”
For more information, go to www.gallopade.com or call 800-536-2438. Books ship as early as June 1, 2010.
