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Love and Freedom: How one day can change your life forever

by Gerard Meerstadt; Cover Design or Artwork by John Wernert; Illustrated by Hans Hoog Stoevenbelt

163 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #07-0377; ISBN 1-4251-1971-9; US$23.06, C$23.06, EUR15.75, £11.90

Twins get lost in a world of fear and suppression. They must find the key to get out. When they discover the secret to escape, it changes their lives forever.

About the Book

In their summer holidays Sandra and Jamie visit a one-day summer course that takes them to a different world in a different time frame. They can stay there for weeks if they need to, and yet to the outside world it will only be one day. The purpose is to learn by experience that Love and Freedom, two things not taught in regular schools, are the foundation for a happy and carefree life. They can learn it in different ways as they soon find out. They start out in the lofty playground of Love and Freedom, but before they know it, they get lured into the dangerous playground of Real Freedom and Excitement, which is governed by fear and suppression.

They cannot just go back, first they need to find the tickets to get out of there. But how to find them in a place where nobody can be trusted? In the darkest moment they discover the secret to overcome their fears and find their way back to the playground of Love and Freedom. It turns out to be a life changing experience to them. From this day on the whole world looks pleasantly different…

The story has both joyful and rather scary adventures, all to demonstrate important lessons of life that can be applied when the school is over, both by the twins and by the reader. The story is accompanied by over sixty illustrations that fill in the details of the action and the environment.

About the Author and Illustrators

Gerard Meerstadt is a coach, consultant and writer on the subject of human behavior. In his practice he has helped successful people become more successful and people in trouble to get back on their feet again. He has helped businesses and individuals change from a culture driven by fear and competition into one of cooperation and trust. In his experience he found that the way we handle situations in life is largely determined by how we learn to handle them when we grow up.

Schools would be the ideal environment to teach children how to overcome their fears and enjoy life from day to day, so they can develop their abilities in a stress free way. Unfortunately schools are not equipped to deal with these issues.

This fact, and the pressure many children experience when they proceed from elementary school to high school, have given rise to the idea of the imaginary ‘School of Life’, where children could learn the essential skills to make them happy people throughout their lives, regardless of their cultural background and values. The School of Life teaches the universal principles of Love and Freedom in an exciting and playful way. You can find more about Gerard and his work on vitalperformance.com.

Hans Hoog Stoevenbelt is a youth friend Gerard grew up with. As a skilled musician and artist Hans has played the bass guitar in many bands and has designed and painted their posters and record covers. Hans developed as a professional painter and illustrator. When the two met again after a long time he gladly took on the task to illustrate the story of Love and Freedom, which needed the illustrations to complement the fast script-like storytelling style. Hans had full freedom to create any illustration that would come up as he read the story, which resulted in more then 60 illustrations throughout the book. So the final look and feel of Jamie and Sandra and their world is the result of the input of two creative minds. You can find more about Hans and his work on hanshoogstoevenbelt.nl.

John Wernert is another friend who is a natural talent in computer based design, specialized in 3D animations. After a short briefing John immediately came up with the cover design that was perfect for this book. Simple, professional and fast, just as we wanted it. You can find more about John's work on johnwernert.nl.