Nine lucky Peachtree City and Fayette County kids have joined the international world of publishing. In July, they were selected to be featured in a photograph to appear on thousands of book covers to be used by Gallopade International, a children's book publisher in Peachtree City.

"We have used children in our book covers in the past," said Sherry Moss, Gallopade's sales manager, "and it is very popular. Readers write and ask who the children are and how they got to be on our covers. This time, we listed the kids' names and ages."

The book covers are part of Gallopade's new international book publishing program, and will be used through the year 2000. They will appear on titles ranging from Georgia history to Minnesota geography to Australian sports, more than 6,000 titles in all. The company was founded in 1979 and moved its headquarters from Atlanta to Peachtree City in 1997.

The company creates, publishes and markets fiction and non-fiction for the young adult market.

Author Carole Marsh has always incorporated real children into her books and workplace, including her own children, as well as those of friends.

"It's just a natural to feature the pictures of our local readers on the book covers," said Marsh. "We find that teachers, librarians and kids around the world are interested in knowing where Peachtree City is and who those kids are. This is just another way for us to connect with young readers and make our books more personal for them. It's fun for the kids, too; they get to be mini-celebrities and have something special to add to their scrapbooks to show their kids one day!"