September 2019
Dear Friends,
I hope you all had a good summer. I spent a week in Minehead with my sister, who I haven’t been away with since we went to Austria for a week over thirty years ago! Where does time go? 🙂
August has been a quiet month for Dernier, for sales – please pray that schools, churches and parents everywhere will see what a fantastic tool novels are for building faith. We so long to know our books are out there, changing lives. Well, of course, it’s the Lord who changes lives, but he uses our words to touch people, whether spoken or written. 🙂
Now our books are also in audio, we have a new way to reach children who don’t enjoy reading. Please pass on the good news to any of your friends who have children. Maybe you could even buy an audio book for a child/family you know? Even children who love reading might also enjoy listening to a story while on the bus or train on their way to school!
Why not try out Mystery in the Snow? All you need is the recipient’s email address, and the book is sent to them to download. They can read it on their phone – or a parent’s phone… or a tablet, laptop of computer.
Schools
Some children are already back at school – some will be heading out this week. Let’s pray for all those who love the Lord, that they will be strengthened in their faith and hold on to what they know to be true.
This term we plan to start a campaign to Christian-based primary schools, encouraging them to use our books for their children as class readers, and to make them available in their libraries. Please pray for us – for good relationships with schools, and that many will take up our books. Children from every faith and none attend church schools, so library books have the potential to be read by children from all walks of life. Perhaps the Lord will use them to bring light in dark places, to open eyes and to turn children’s hearts to Him.
Book Club
Teacher Denise (Mrs Angell!) will once more be running a book club for children in Years Five and Six this term, at a local primary school. Denise says, “Every Monday lunchtime, we looked forward to gathering to read together and share our own experiences or predictions that came to mind as we followed the character’s adventure. Being a faith-linked book club, there were a number of books representing the main faiths of the world although of the six books we read all bar onewas a Dernier book! The children made the decision! I asked which had been their favourite and there was a draw between A Pennyworth of Peppermints and The Birthday Shoes as they enjoyed the mystery of them. Between the books, we must have covered many worries that the children have or will face and I pray that they feel equipped to know that they can pray for the Lord’s help and thank Him for the good times too. I pray that my book club has planted seeds of Christian faith that will germinate and grow at some time.
We’ll start with a new group of pupils in September so please pray that they will also be touched by these wonderful books.”
None of the children has to go to this lunch time club – they choose to go. Isn’t it great that they love reading and discussing Christian books? Please pray for Denise as she once again brings stories to children, almost all of whom are not from church families.
Prisoners’ Children
Angel Tree will once again be sending out some of our books to prisoners’ children this year at Christmas (apologies for using the Christmas word in September!). We don’t yet know which titles. Please pray the right books will go to the right children, and that the Lord will use them to open hearts. Please pray, too, for the children who have received our books as gifts over the last three years – maybe the books are still on a shelf… maybe they are much loved… the Lord knows! Let’s pray that the Lord will draw these precious children to himself, each one a prisoner’s child through not fault of their own.
Christian Resources Together
Our annual trade event will take place on September 17th and 18th at the Hayes Christian Conference Centre in Derbyshire. I will be there with all our books! It’s a lovely couple of days, spending time with retailers from Christian bookshops and other retailers. We love supporting the bookshops – they do a fabulous job.
The Beech Bank Girls are Ten Years Old!
The Beech Bank Girls books are ten years old this month! It’s incredible to think that these stories have been building girls up in their faith for ten years now, and are still touching girls’ hearts today with their message of life, laughter and faith in Jesus. Congratulations to author Eleanor Watkins, who has written such enduring, heart-warming, fun and inspirational novels for our girls. May the stories carry on bearing much fruit for many years to come!
It is totally awesome to look back and see how far Dernier has come, by the Lord’s grace, in these last ten years. Please keep praying for us – who knows what the Lord might do in the next ten? 🙂 Exciting, isn’t it! Please keep buying books – we need you to get the books into readers’ hands.
Right, I’d better let you go and get ready for the new term, or perhaps your holiday, or just back to your usual day to day activities. Whatever you do, may you know the Lord’s presence with you.
Grace and peace,
Janet
P.S. Don’t forget to try one of our audiobooks!