Choices
One thing we all have in common, is freedom of choice. Given a Christian book, young readers can think through issues for themselves, such as homelessness, child-led families, answered prayer, people trafficking, body image, corruption, becoming a Christian. (The Only Way, Living in Hope, I Want to Be an Airline Pilot, The Treasure Hunt, the Beech Bank Girls, The City Kid, The Birthday Shoes.) The same is true for church and non-church children. Stories can be a tool for the Holy Spirit to work through. Let’s not underestimate the power of a good story to inspire!
If your children don’t read, why not read to them? Don’t live with them? No worries, you can do it now on Skype, or even with the new facebook face time app!
Unhappy Girls
According to the Children’s Society Annual Report, a massive 34% of 10-15 year-old girls in the UK are unhappy with their appearance – and the number continues to rise. This article from the BBC news website is very well worth a read if this issue concerns you.
If you know a girl this age who needs some encouragement, why not buy her a set of the Beech Bank Girls books? You can buy them from your local Christian bookshops or direct from this link. You may never know what good they will do! And don’t let’s forget to pray for our precious young people, growing up with so many pressures.
The Dernier Bird
Thank you to Lucy who drew the Dernier bird and coloured it in so beautifully, and her Mum who kindly sent it to me. What a lovely surprise! This is the Dernier bird who is singing in Jesus’ ear, as mentioned in last month’s newsletter . . . if you missed it you can read it here. 🙂
If you have an encouraging story, or a photo of your children reading Dernier books, please do send them in – it’s always such a pleasure to hear from you. Some days and weeks are full of hard work and headaches, and hearing an encouraging story is guaranteed to lift the spirits. 🙂
Books to Africa
Some of our books are off to Lufutuko Community School in Zambia at the weekend! A local church minister is flying out and has made room in his luggage for about 20 books – thank you Martyn. 🙂 The township of Kawama, on the outskirts of Kabwe, Zambia, is a poor community, so we are delighted to be able to help with books. If you know anyone going out to Africa or India, or anywhere where education is highly valued but books scarce, would you ask them to take a few books? If we can help, please don’t hesitate to contact me for discounts or to raid our seconds box!
First Chapters
If you would like a pdf to download/print of all the first chapters of our books, please sign up to receive this newsletter. I hope this resource will help you choose, because you can’t flick through a book online! (You can of course browse our books in Christian bookshops.) 🙂
Talking of Christian bookshops, I will be at a trade event later this week, where Christian publishers will be meeting Christian retailers and authors. Please pray for a fruitful time – we are all working towards the same aim of getting as many Christian books and resources into as many hands as we can. Thank you!
Write for a Reason
The new Write for a Reason course began last week – I run this course for anyone who writes for children and young people from a Christian perspective, and wants to improve their writing skills. Please pray for the students! Just in case you’re interested, we also have a monthly membership programme and lots of free writing tips on the website.
The City Kid
I’m running out of room, but don’t forget to buy your copies of our new book, The City Kid, for all the teens you know. Because of my mum’s illness and subsequent death (thank you so much for all your kind messages and cards), I haven’t done anything like as much promotion as I planned, so please do pray this book will reach the young people who really need to read this story. Could your teen buy a copy for a friend? Click here for more info about the book.
Thank you for reading this far – and for all your support. Please keep praying for us, and for all our readers!
Janet