For Immediate Release

Colorful children’s book aims to make world peace accessible to kids, adults

Washington, DC. (April 8, 2014) - 

World peace. It’s something we all want, but can’t seem to achieve.   Christopher Hershey says it’s because we’ve been attacking the problem the wrong way.

Instead of think tanks and councils we need to take the issue directly to those who will be making public policy soon enough: Kids.  

Hershey, 40, recently authored, “The Art of Peace,” a book he says will revolutionize the way kids and adults think about peace.

Hershey, who is an African-American veteran, said he decided to write the book after having a long think about the values he wanted to pass on to his own children—the values that would affect society as a whole.  

“In order to teach them about peace I started talking to them about some heroes of mine who advocate for peace, and after a while of doing that, the idea of a book was born.”  

In the book, profiles of some of some of the most well-known peace advocates, such as Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama, are juxtaposed alongside Hazel Quintanilla’s whimsical artwork in the book and what they had to say about peace.  

The book also highlights people you might not immediately peg as agents of peace—people such as Albert Einstein, Andrew Carnegie and Eleanor Roosevelt.   Hershey said he got the idea for whom to include in “The Art of Peace” through conversations with his kids.  

“Some are people who kept coming up in discussions with my children” he said.  

“Some are from recent headlines, some represent younger voices or more creative voices of peace – who might not otherwise come to mind immediately.”

 Though the book is primarily aimed at kids, Hershey said he thinks it can change adults as well.  

“My hope is that the book has something for all ages,” he said.

“For both kids and adults, I wanted to draw the connection between peace on the world scale, peace at the local scale, and peace in their own lives – so, from the global to the very, very personal.”  

To get his book out to the masses, so that he can affect change on the global scale he envisions, Hershey has turned to crowdfunding site Kickstarter.  

Hershey launched his Kickstarter campaign on April 1. He is hoping people who share his dream and vision, will come alongside him and donate to help get “The Art of Peace” into the hands of little ones everywhere.

Hershey said that the funds from the Kickstarter campaign will go towards printing costs as well as for a parent/teacher guide to support adults who want to start conversations with kids that last beyond the book.

Beyond the funds for printing the book, Hershey said he wants to use Kickstarter to mobilize an army of people passionate about spreading peace.

 “We are looking to build the community of people who may be interested in supporting ‘The Art of Peace Project’ by sharing it in schools, neighborhoods, community centers around the world,” he said.

“Kickstarter helps to get the word out about a really good and fun way to bring people together and make art (and peace) doing it.”

Learn more about “The Art of Peace” at http://bitly.com/1s3rZNi 

About the “The Art of Peace” 

"The Art of Peace" celebrates some of the great people who have become role models -- indeed symbols themselves -- for peacemaking worldwide. Using thoughtful expressions of art and beautiful prose, the book helps to connect children to these leaders and to the idea that the change happens with just one thought, just one action, just one expression of peace.  

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For more information on “The Art of Peace” please contact: Chris Hershey

E-mail: [email protected]

Kickstarter: http://bitly.com/1s3rZNi 

Website: http:// theartofpeacebook.com Twitter: @artofpeacebook