Welcome to the February Newsletter!

Books in Schools

I spoke to a chaplain of a school last week (a school with a Christian ethos, according to their website) who told me that the librarian wouldn’t want Christian books in the library. Books where the characters become druids, commit suicide, perform magic and dance naked are fine – but not characters who pray and go to church, however exciting the story. I don’t suppose for a minute this is a one-off: we need to pray for our schools. And our children. If you think your local school would appreciate a gift of books, why not do it now, while you can? The door seems to be closing.

And now for something completely different!

A mum sent me these photos of her two gorgeous children, who apparently both really enjoyed ‘I want to be an airline pilot’ and ‘Mystery in the Snow’. The young lad was particularly taken aback and thrilled to find Christian characters in a real book, who go to church and are used by God. Thanks to all who pray. It’s so encouraging to know our books are touching children’s lives. Who knows what fruit may come from these seeds?

Support your local Christian bookshop!

I don’t know if you remember me mentioning Christian bookshops last month? Well I thought I’d start a feature, with a different bookshop every month! So here’s the first: it’s my local one, run by Gordon and Barbara Hoppé, serving the Sevenoaks/Orpington area of Kent/SE London. (Thanks to Judith for the photo of the shop and to Jen for agreeing to have her photo taken with our books. :-)) Their address is Sevenoaks Road, Pratt’s Bottom, BR6 7SQ. Yes, you do sometimes pay a bit more in bookshops than if you ordered online, but you might see just the perfect thing for a present – or with some expert advice, find something better than the purchase you intended! When I was in the shop a couple of weeks ago Jen was kind enough to do a quick video review which you can see here. If you are fortunate to still have a Christian bookshop in your locality, do pay them a visit; I’m sure they’d love to see you.

Please pass this on:

I have updated the Dernier online catalogue (this is the link) – please do forward it to your Sunday School teachers, youth workers and any other interested parties. 🙂 Imagine the impact it could have if children all over the country took home Christian books after an event! So children might not be able to read our books in school – hey, we’ll reach them another way!

Book of the Month

Terrorism is in all our thoughts at the moment: I know London’s Gone is quite old, and you may already have it, but I thought I’d offer it this month for the subscriber offer (those of you who can’t get to a Christian bookshop!). If you would like to open the door to talk about terrorism with your young teens, this would be a good book. Find it here. The coupon code for £1 off is SUBSCRIBER. The offer is open to subscribers only, until the end of February, as a thank you for all your support – I hope it will help you reach the children on your heart.

Before I go, please can I can ask you to pray for my elderly mother, who has dementia? She is having mini strokes and fractured her shoulder in a fall recently. It’s not an easy time. Thank you very much.

See you again next month!

Janet