Marsh, Carole 1946-

PERSONAL: Born December 22, 1946, in Mariette, GA; daughter of Mason S. and Dorothy Spence; married Robert Longmeyer, December 26, 1980; children: Michele Yother, Michael.

ADDRESSES: Office—Gallopade International, 665 Highway 74 S, Ste. 600, Peachtree City, GA 30269. E-mail—carole@gallopade.com.

CAREER: Author, photographer, publisher, and entrepreneur. Gallopade International (publisher), Peachtree City, GA, founder and president, 1972—.

AWARDS, HONORS: Named communicator of the year, Association of Business Communicators; Excellence in Education Award, National School Supply and Equipment Association; award from the magazine Learning; Georgia Author of the Year for middle readers, 2006.

WRITINGS:

BOOKS ON CALIFORNIA

The California Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

California Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

California Jography, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

California’s Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Cool California Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about California, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON COLORADO

The Colorado Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Colorado Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Colorado Jography, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Colorado’s Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Cool Colorado Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Colorado, Gallopade International(Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON CONNECTICUT

The Connecticut Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Connecticut Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Connecticut Jography, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Connecticut’s Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Cool Connecticut Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Connecticut, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON FLORIDA

The Fabulous Florida Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Florida Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Florida Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Florida Jography, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Florida’s Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Florida, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON GEORGIA

The Georgia Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Georgia Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Georgia Jography, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Georgia’s Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Groovy Georgia Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Georgia, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON ILLINOIS

The Illinois Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Illinois Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Illinois Jography, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Illinois’s Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Incredible Illinois Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Illinois, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON KENTUCKY

The Kentucky Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Kentucky Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Kentucky Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Kentucky Jography, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Kentucky’s Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Kentucky, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON LOUISIANA

The Louisiana Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Louisiana Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Louisiana Jography, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Louisiana’s Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Louisiana, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON MARYLAND

The Magnificent Maryland Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Maryland Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA) 2000.

Maryland Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Maryland’s Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Maryland, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON MICHIGAN

The Magnificent Michigan Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Michigan Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Michigan Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Michigan’s Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Michigan, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON MISSOURI

The Magnificent Missouri Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Missouri Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Missouri Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Missouri Jography, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Missouri’s Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Missouri, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON MISSISSIPPI

The Magnificent Mississippi Coloring Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Mississippi Big Activity Book, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Mississippi Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Mississippi Jography, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

Mississippi Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Mississippi, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

BOOKS ON NEW JERSEY

My First Book about New Jersey, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The New Jersey Experience Pocket Guide, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

New Jersey Jeopardy, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

OTHER

Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors, Twenty-first Century Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Unidentified Flying Objects and Extraterrestrial Life, Twenty-first Century Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Twenty Ways to Teach the SOL with Pizzazz!, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Ohio, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Texas, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Virginia, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Oklahoma, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Wisconsin, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

My First Book about Pennsylvania, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2000.

The Budding Genius Book: Activities on Latin, Chess, Bridge, Shakespeare, Physics, and More for Pre-choolers, Kindergarteners, and Early Elementary Students, Gallopade International (Peachtree City, GA), 2001.

Author of approximately 10,000 books written for children, both fiction and nonfiction, published primarily by Gallopade International since 1979, including The Mystery of The Biltmore House. Series include “Carole Marsh Mysteries," “Real Kids/Real Places,” “Around the World Internet Series,” “Criss/Cross/Applesauce,” “Three Amigos,” and “Pretty Darn Scary.”

SIDELIGHTS: Carole Marsh once commented: “Long, long ago, it was a dark and stormy night and… I was born. It was three days before Christmas. I weighed one pound and eight ounces and fit in the palm of my father’s hand. These were the days before miracles, but a saintly nurse fed me with an eyedropper and three months later (when I should have just been being born!) I went home.

“The next big event in my life was my first library card. Dr. Seuss, Tales Told under the Green Umbrella, The Secret Garden… and soon I was certain I’d read every book in the children’s section. So, I headed for the area marked Adults. The librarian never batted an eye as I checked out Nevil Shute’s On the Beach and a National Geographic book chock-full of naked natives. I was six years old. I learned to love librarians.

“I went to first grade in the days of Dick and Jane. There were six sets of reading classes snuggled in a little circle around the giant book. Each morning I started out in the first group and spent the entire day in reading. My teacher was a champion. Her job was to teach first graders to read and we would not leave her class until we could. I did learn to read (and learned to love teachers). But what my teacher did not know was that I could not see; I was legally blind.

“I made all A’s in grammar school by trotting up to the pencil sharpener so I could memorize the blackboard. I did this several times each day. I had the sharpest pencils in the class. It would be the eighth grade before I got glasses. (By then, even I knew I couldn’t see!) But when I told adults I couldn’t read a STOP sign at arm’s length, they laughed. I went to town myself and got some newfangled contact lenses. When the doctor put them in and I looked out the store window and across the street and saw all I hadn’t been seeing all those years, I was astounded! But when I looked back down and discovered, not solid, but calico blouses and plaid skirts and pinstripe ties, and freckles on my arms, I cried.

“I always wanted to make my living as a writer. ‘Impossible!’ everyone told me. That’s when I knew I’d be successful. As a young mother with children, I taught myself writing, photography, and many other subjects. (There was only enough money for my husband to go to college.) But it would be ten years before I would even try to get anything published.

“I sent an article to the newspaper, unsolicited. When the newspaper came out the next day, there was my article and several sidebar articles I had written—they took up an entire page topped by an enormous headline and enhanced with art. I was shocked! The check was in the mailbox. The phone rang off the hook with people agreeing and disagreeing with what I had written. It was wonderful!

“I went on to start my own public relations and corporate communications firm. I had lots of clients and lots of fun and traveled a lot and won many awards. Then one day while I was waiting for a client to decide what color annual report they wanted, I said, ‘You know, while you try to make up your mind, I think I could write a book.’ So I got out a little ruler and found the closest town on water and packed up the kids and went there and did just that!

“One year later, my first book—The Missing Head Mystery—was finished. I went to New York to see what to do with it. ‘Publish it yourself,’ everyone insisted. And so I did. I needed a publishing name and Gallopade Publishing Group was born. (Gallopade is colloquial French for kids all excited, like on Christmas morning. It also means horses galloping around, like in the wild, wild West. And, it was the name of the world’s largest tobacco market festival which once took place in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where Gallopade was begun. Stay tuned for additional meanings as we uncover them!) Since it was just me, I had no idea what the ‘Group’ in our name meant.

“This was in the Dark Ages (before Macintosh) and so I was only able to add one book each year. My children—Michael and Michele—helped me. They served as characters and proofreaders (and loved to catch Mom’s mistakes). Michael learned the alphabet by filing account cards. Michele created our first accounting system when she was fourteen years old; we still use it.

“The public relations faded away and we published full time. We did everything: the research, writing, art, design, paste up, printing and binding, sales and marketing, shipping and billing. It was very, very hard and wonderfully rewarding.

“Like every fledgling business, there were rough times, mistakes made. There was also a divorce and a move and teenagers to survive. But ever-faithful were our readers. It seemed they couldn’t get enough Carol Marsh mysteries; they read them as fast as I wrote them! Years and books fled by. Soon there were twelve of each.

“Librarians suggested books on math and science and sex education and many other subjects and I wrote them. Teachers said they needed books on their states and I wrote them: history, geography, legend, lore, and more. Soon there were 200 books.

“Then computers and a guy named Bob came along and made our lives much easier. We switched to the Macintosh overnight; it would be two years before Bob and I would marry. That brought two more kids/characters into the family. Like the Five Little Peppers, Gallopade grew.

“One day, Waldenbooks called and said ‘We hear you have a very popular trivia book on North Carolina. We want to order it. By the way, what other states do you have this book for?’ We didn’t, but as fast as I could think, I reeled off: ‘Kansas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, California, Texas, Rhode Island’… and on and on. When I finally took a breath, she said, ‘Thank you’ and hung up. Six weeks later, we got an order for 25,000 books! They were for almost every state—and only one was written!

“We couldn’t let readers down, so I researched and wrote the books. They would be the first in what is now a forty-plus book and other product series for each and every U.S. state (plus Washington, DC). It took the family—and half the town!—to fill the order, but we did it and things were never the same.

“Soon, there were 2,000 books and it was clear that Gallopade was going to be very big. The World’s Largest Publishing Company is what we had in mind. But I still didn’t know what the ‘Group’ in our name meant.

“Today, we publish fiction and nonfiction for all age and grade levels plus adults. Our books are available in a variety of editions including paper, hardcover, and on computer disk (because all our books are in database, they are updated each day according to the world headlines). We have 6,000 products in print now. Many of these are exclusively about [a readers] very own state or country! If we don’t have a book you want and need, just ask us—I’ll probably write it. (This has happened many times!)

“I even finally figured out what the ‘Group’ meant. Today, Gallopade is a gallimaufry of companies including: Carole Marsh Books; American Bus Books for All 50 States; Carole Marsh Canada Books; Carole Marsh Books on Disk; Carole Marsh Multimedia; Carole Marsh Interactive CD-ROM; The World’s Largest Publishing Company; Four Corners (our international books and sales); WCMB-TV (videos); and many more. We create and publish books, reproducible activities, software, games, charts, and many other fun, educational products.

“In 1998, we changed our name to Gallopade International to reflect our dramatic new scope and abilities. As we create for the global educational market, we are enjoying making new friends.

“We are based in Peachtree City, Georgia. Michele (now Michele Yother) got herself a college degree (honors and all!) and is the president and CEO of our publishing company. Michael is the genius behind all our exciting new CD-ROM and multimedia products. Bob and I alternately travel to your part of the world to do research, then ‘hole up’ to write up all those fascinating new facts. Bob does a little of everything—if you get your books and get them right, he probably had a big hand in there somewhere. We also use lots of freelance help, including many teachers, parents, librarians, and students.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 1, 1996, Ilene Cooper, review of Unidentified Flying Objects and Extraterrestrial Life, p. 660; December 15, 1996, Carolyn Phelan, review of Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors, p. 722.

School Library Journal, May, 1983, Drew Stevenson, review of The Mystery of The Biltmore House, p. 92; December, 1996, Ann G. Brouse, review of Unidentified Flying Objects and Extraterrestrial Life, p. 132.