The Ups and Downs of Life

Dear Dernier Friends,

Summer is coming, along with warmer weather and exams!

I hope you are keeping well and enjoyed the coronation of our new King? Pity it rained!

Every season has its good things and struggles, doesn’t it – at least while we wait for the new heavens and the new earth…

One thing is for sure, our children need encouragement and hope right now like never before. Time and time again I hear of one child or teen after another struggling with mental health issues, and I’m sure you have, too. Perhaps even in your own family or church. Even the royal family aren’t exempt… wouldn’t it be great to be able to give the new generation of royal children copies of our books! If you have any ideas how to do this, please do let me know. 🙂

How we need to pray for them all.

If you think a Dernier book might help a child you know, don’t hesitate to order one now, either direct from us, or from your local Christian book shop. A story can reach in and touch our souls like nothing else can – especially when the Holy Spirit is at work!

All our stories are fun, and filled with hope… which will stay with your young readers, long after they put the book down.

Worried about offending? All our books are respectful and the message wound in to a good story. If you’re not sure, why not read the book first? If you need any help choosing for a delicate situation, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’d love to help you.

Who will reach the children, if you don’t? Your gift could mean life.

Schools/Teachers

We currently have a campaign, reaching out to Christian schools, to let them know about our books. If you are a teacher at a Christian school, or would be interested in books for your school, please sign up here to receive regular offers and discounts.

If you’re not a teacher, please would you pray for this venture? Thank you!

The Birthday Shoes is now Available to Order!

This fabulous book by the popular Mary Weeks Millard, went out of print a couple of years ago, but is now once again available to order! Yaaayyyy!!!!!

Did you love it first time round? This edition is larger, with pictures at the start of every chapter, and has a dyslexia friendly font/layout.

But most importantly, Emily Jane’s adventures will inspire your girls to walk with Jesus.

Get your copies here for all the girls in your life.

You won’t regret it! (Perfect for girls 7-10.)

More Updated Books Coming

Instead of working on new stories, right now we’re working on updating some of our older books. Some have new covers, some don’t, but they all have the same easy-to-read format, pictures at the start of chapters (for younger readers) and a larger size. We want to do everything we can to make the books as attractive as we can, so you can sow them in as many places as you can.

I Want to Be an Airline Pilot won’t have a new cover, but the new edition is looking good!

The Treasure Hunt will be available from 1^st July. It’s a really exciting story, which benefits from a fabulous new cover by the talented Katy Hollamby, who is currently also working on Mystery in the Snow. Suspicious Deliveries will follow that – this is a brand new story with the same characters. More about that another time!

Please do pray for all these projects. The enemy doesn’t want children to be drawn to Jesus.

Before I go, do you have a teen/young adult you’d like to bless? Here’s a review of Year 0033 I found on Amazon:

“Wow! Here’s an absolutely brilliant and gripping read, to recommend to your church youth group or purchase for a teenager (or adult) you know!
I won’t give too much away about the story but it’s set in a time where religion is banned for the sake of world peace & the World Council are in charge.
Cella, the heroine, has lived her whole life in Area IF208, one of the many Areas set up by the new World Council after war, famine and plague cause global devastation.
But when Cella’s best friend disappears, her fiancé is arrested and astonishing rumours of people living ‘Outside’ surface, she must decide either to stay put or to risk trying to escape from the only life she’s ever known.
This book is well written and although it’s almost otherworldly, it feels heart-poundingly plausible throughout & very thought provoking! In the uncertain times we live, this book is an invaluable reminder that no matter how dark the night, we need to keep looking upward and trusting in God!” – Tangerina

Click here to order your copy.

And that’s all for now! Thank you for the opportunity to support you with good books for your children – the church of today and the church of tomorrow.

Be in touch again soon,

Janet

P.S. Don’t forget, you can get all our books from any bookshop. 🙂 Don’t put it off. Your children’s faith is too important.

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Easter – the Greatest Gift of All

Dear Friends,

Easter is a time for grateful reflection, as we consider once again the death and victorious resurrection of Jesus. As we buy chocolate and eggs for friends and family, and plan our Easter meals, our hearts turn to those who do not know forgiveness of sin, the freedom we have in Christ, the joy of his living presence with us, the sure and certain hope of final resurrection on the last day.

Would you like to buy books to give the children in your family/church this Easter, to encourage them in their faith? There really isn’t anything more important, is there?

Bookshops can help you choose, or here are some suggestions from our own range of titles:

For 6-8s: Nobody’s Dog (dog and boy) or Oliver’s Secret (cat and girl)

For 8-11s: Living in Hope or The Dove Stone

Fopr 10-14s: Revenge of the Flying Carpet or A New Me

For Teens: The City Kid or Rebecca and Jade: Choices (one of the girls in this book becomes a Christian following an Easter service!)

For young adults: Year 0033.

Who knows what your gift might do, watered with prayer? Don’t leave it to someone else – they might not come. Or perhaps your book will be a vital link in a chain. Make sure you do your bit and be the blessing. 🙂

Nobody’s Dog on Audiobook

If you haven’t downloaded your copy yet, you can do so from many different platforms, including Audiobooks.net. You don’t have to subscribe to a monthly membership – you can buy just this one book and enjoy as many times as you like!

Why not listen as a family over Easter, and learn about prayer and trust, with Luke and Bushy? 🙂

Kenya

It’s not too late to buy a book for rural schools in Kenya. This is a wonderful way to be a blessing, if you haven’t got children in your own church or family to buy for. Read more here.

The Birthday Shoes

We have the proof copy of the new, large version, with images for each chaper, and it’s looking brilliant! As soon as it’s available to pre-order, we will let you know.

Same with The Treasure Hunt and I Want to Be an Airline Pilot, which will be following in due course.

Please do pray for all these initiatives, that it will mean more books into more young hands.

May the blessing of the Lord be on you and your family this Easter.

May all the glory go to him!

Together in His service,

Janet

P.S. You can find all your Easter book gifts here. If you need any help choosing, please don’t hesitate to contact me. 🙂

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Helping You With Your Outreach

Welcome to the latest Dernier news – there’s so much to tell you! Whoever is on your mind right now (kids/teens) we hope to be able to help you reach out to them.

Here we go!

Nobody’s Dog

Nearly there with this fab audiobook! Your children will love this. I will send you the link as soon as it’s available. If you’d like a paperback copy, you can order it from any bookshop. (Don’t forget to support your local Christian bookshop, if you are fortunate enough to still have one.)

Updating Older Titles

We are in the process of updating several of our older books. These include The Birthday Shoes, I Want to Be an Airline Pilot, and The Treasure Hunt.

You are going to love them! We hope to have them all ready for you by April.

All the books will be in the new, larger format, with clear, dyslexia friendly font and images at the beginning of each chapter. They are looking GOOD, and will be there to inspire a whole new generation of readers. Yaaayyyyy!!!

PLUS The Treasure Hunt also has a fabulous new cover, with cover illustrations by the talented Katy Hollamby! Don’t you just love these four? 🙂

Mystery in the Snow will also be getting a new cover, and there will also be a BRAND NEW mystery adventure later this year… this book will be particularly good for children who are adopted or fostered.

Right now:

Do you want books for school leavers, libraries, class readers, Sunday School classes, refugees to your area, or for Easter outreach/holiday clubs/missions?

NEW! We have quantity discounts here on our website, so if you want to buy several copies of a book, you can do a bit of saving. (We all need that these days, don’t we?)

If you need more than 30 of any title, please get in touch – we’d love to help you with whatever group you are looking for, if we possibly can.

Do you have refugees from Hong Kong? Oliver’s Secret would be a brilliant choice – perfect to welcome them to your church! Claire has a Chinese mum and has recently moved to England from China… she misses her old friends and is worried about making new ones. There’s a gentle message about answered prayer – just right for those on the fringes of church life.

Are you looking for an individual child with a birthday coming up? Flick over to the home page and have a browse. Don’t put it off! Before you know it, the moment will be lost.

We recommend: The Dove Stone for 8-11s/family reading. This is our newest book and getting some great reviews. (It’s also great for schools, who have to demonstrate that they offer Christian material.) We recommend The City Kid or Year 0033 for teens/young adults and Nobody’s Dog or Oliver’s Secret for new readers. And of course there’s lots more choice… You can even buy a whole treasure chest packed full of priceless goodies. 🙂

Children so badly need the encouragement, hope and fun that Christian books can bring. Well, not just children, their families too! Books are such a wonderful way to introduce readers to Jesus in a sensitive and non-threatening way.

Right, I’d better get on! Any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We are here for you.

Every blessing,

Janet

P.S. If you haven’t got anyone to buy for, but want to help, it’s not too late to donate a book for a rural school in Kenya (see last month’s email). Every one of your books will go to needy schools unable to afford to buy books for themselves – they appreciate it so much! All donated books are printed in Nairobi, which also benefits the local economy. Thank you for caring.

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Kenya Book Launch

We had a wonderful time at the Kenya Book Launch yesterday! Huge thanks to Muthoni from CLC Kenya for hosting – what a cheerful, friendly host! Thanks too to our authors for taking the time to come and share their stories with us.

Unfortunately many people were unable to access the live link, but you can watch the recording on Facebook.

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Kenya Book Launch Recorded!

Dear Dernier Friends,

The Kenya Book Launch went very well – thank you so much to all of you who prayed. I can’t tell you how much your prayers are appreciated – without the Lord we can do nothing, and we know how much the enemy doesn’t want to get Christian books into children’s hands.

Really sorry the live link wasn’t working – I know many of you tried to access it but failed – that was disappointing. 🙁

So sorry about that, we never did find out why. But we did have a great chat, and it was recorded, hurray!!!!!!!, so at least you can watch the recording. You can watch it here.

It’s on my personal Facebook page, as for some reason FB won’t let me post to the Dernier page. Something else random, but hey, there’s usually a way round these things… we will not be defeated!

Muthoni Omukhango, National Director at CLC Kenya, was a brilliant host and the chat was fun and inspiring, with lots of fascinating insights into the authors’ lives and background to the stories – some of it was new to me, too!

We’re soooo delighted that now these five books will be available to children in Kenya. Please pray for an outpouring of grace.

If you’d like to be part of it, and donate beautiful brand new books for needy Kenyan schools, please click here for how you can do this. The needs are overwhelming. Even if you can’t donate right now, please do read the report and pray for the #readtolead project. Many people are struggling to make ends meet here in the UK, but the Education Bridge Africa report shows poverty on a scale we can barely imagine. Education will help children living in the informal settlements get out of the poverty trap – reading is a huge part of that, and some schools have no reading books. Not a single one!!!!

Here’s a quick snippet from the report:

“READ to Lead was envisioned after a needs assessment on learning outcomes in marginalized and informal settlements-based schools. Most children, many from poor backgrounds were performing poorly at the classwork and in the national exams. Lack of English comprehension was discovered to be one of the barriers to understanding other subjects. EBA wanted to close the barrier by offering supplementary books including storybooks.”

Important, isn’t it? Such a great project. Especially as it’s not just education, but the books hold a message of the eternal good news – what an opportunity.

Thanks so much, once again, for your brilliant support!

Together in Christ,

Janet

P.S. The recording is also on Muthoni’s page, so you can watch it there, too. It’s already received over 600 views! 🙂

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2023!

Dear Friends,

It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with you over the last year, to help you get books into the hands of the children you love and are concerned for.

Isn’t it just brilliant to be working together in the kingdom of God? What a privilege!

May your stories be a blessing to everyone who reads them! May the Lord open readers’ hearts, and draw them into His love.

Please be assured, we will be praying – not just for those who received books for Christmas, but all through the year. 🙂

Our children are the church of today, as well as the church of tomorrow. We need to make sure they have all the encouragement they need to be filled with hope, grow in faith and walk in the love of God. There’s nothing more important than that, is there?

Please pray with us that next year, together, we may be able to get thousands more books into thousands more hands, all over the world, to sow seeds, change lives and bring glory to God.

There are still too many children who don’t know that God loves them, and are struggling with various issues. We long for all children, everywhere, to have access to stories that will stir their hearts and give them the opportunity to respond to God’s love and grace. This is our hearts’ desire, and I know it’s yours, too, or you wouldn’t be here!

So please don’t hesitate to let us know if there’s anything we can do to help you reach out to the children on your heart in 2023.

Finally, let me wish you a very Happy New Year!

In Christ,

Janet

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Books in Kenya, The Dove Stone ebook and a Treasure Chest!

Dear Friends,

I do hope things are going well for you, and that you are standing firm through all the changes that are happening around us. Whatever happens in life, we have this as our firm assurance – the Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our defender. Underneath everything, his everlasting arms uphold us.

Treasure in Dark Places

Book sales have dropped dramatically in the last few months, as people are grappling with the cost of living. Books have become a luxury for many families… but children need them just as much – how are we going to get them into young hands?

Here’s an idea: a treasure chest of Christian books, for you to lend out!

You get the treasure chest itself FREE (fabulous sturdy box with magnetic clasp) – and it’s filled with treasures of eternal value…. all you pay for is the books, hehe! 🙂

Why not buy one to keep at home for your children/grandchildren to read and lend to their friends, or for your church, or for your Boys and Girls’ Brigade/children’s youth group meetings? You can then lend out the books, and borrowers can choose the one they want to read. So lots of children can enjoy these fun stories and feed their spirits at the same time – children who may not have access to Christian books any other way…

Perhaps your church might buy a treasure chest, or a group you belong to sponsor one for a foster family or a children’s club… or even to give away at an alternative Hallowe’en party to bless families?

The whole package is £94.99, so it really is excellent value (the chest contains 17 titles). Perhaps your church, or a group you belong to, might sponsor a chest? Stories change the way we view the world.

They really are treasure in dark places. Buy yours here. Don’t let your children miss out. This really is an excellent resource.

Christian Bookshops

You can, of course, buy all our books from Christian Bookshops. Do support them if you can. So many have already closed down all over the country. It would be such a terrible shame to lose their Christian witness in our towns and cities. They don’t just sell books – most have a fab selection of cards, music, mugs, jewellery and other gifts, advent calendars, candles, devotionals, diaries and calendars, Sunday School materials and so much more. How about doing your Christmas shop there? You are sure to be able to buy inspirational gifts for many on your gift list – you can even buy Christian socks – I bought my husband a fun pair last year, with sheep on them, to remind him of the lost one which was found (sheep not sock, hehe)!

(I hope you don’t mind me talking about Christmas – it is a bit early, but it was on my mind. :-))

Launches

We have exciting news for you – we will shortly be having a Big Book Launch of Dernier books in Kenya! Working with Muthoni Mercy and her team at CLC Nairobi, we will shortly have five books for sale – The City Kid, I Want to Be an Airline Pilot, Year 0033, Oliver’s Secret and Nobody’s Dog.

So if you have friends/family in Kenya, do let them know. More details to come, but basically, anyone even from the UK, you will be able to buy books to send to friends or family (or schools/churches you have contact with) in Kenya, easily online! Or buy in Kenya, of course.

This is a real answer to prayer – thank you if you have been praying. We appreciate it very much.

We will be having an online launch, so you will be able to come, too, meet some of the authors, the CLC Team and we all can celebrate together!

As soon as I have a definite date, I will let you know, so keep a look out for the email.

The Dove Stone ebook

We will also shortly be launching The Dove Stone ebook! Again, I will keep you posted with the date. So if you need a story in a hurry, it will be there for you.

And that’s it for this month!

Every blessing to you as you walk with Jesus. And don’t forget your Treasure Chest of books. 🙂

Thanks for being here – without you we wouldn’t exist.

Janet

Janet Wilson, Dernier Publishing.

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Kindle Books for 99p!

Dear Friends,

The summer is almost gone and the children will be back at school soon.

This is a memorable time of year for me. It’s my birthday on 1^st September, so as a child I looked forward to my birthday all through the summer holidays (which seemed sooo long!), then when my birthday was over, a pit of dread in my stomach took over, as the new school term approached.

I didn’t like school – I wasn’t very good at mixing, and had very little confidence. Thankfully, the Lord has worked a miracle in my life, although I haven’t forgotten the feeling!

Now I love to think of children being encouraged and inspired by our books, just as I was inspired by the books I read as a new Christian.

Exciting, isn’t it? Books really do change lives. And nothing is impossible with the Lord!

Kindle Books

As I’ve mentioned before, we have decided to put all Dernier books on kindle for 99p, as my birthday gift to you in these difficult times.

Just for 1^st September 2022 (my 60^th birthday, I might as well come clean!).

So whether you need a bedtime story for your own children, or want to send a story to someone you love… or if you just want to check them out, please do go over to Amazon’s kindle store on 1^st September, where you can find all our kindle ebooks for 99p.

Not all our books are on kindle – you can check out the selection here:

I Want to Be an Airline Pilot

Living in Hope

Year 0033

Revenge of the Flying Carpet

Beech Bank Girls, Every Girl Has a Story

Beech Bank Girls, Making a Difference

Beech Bank Girls, Christmas is Coming

Beech Bank Girls, A Time Remembered

Rebecca and Jade: Choices

Under the Tamarind Tree

A Pennyworth of Peppermints

The offer is worldwide, though, so wherever in the world you live, you will be able to get them for a similar price.

They can be read on any digital device – and as children/teens love their phones, tablets and laptops, that kind of works well. 🙂

We hope this means that whatever your financial circumstances, you can may be able to afford at least one book to thrill your children and encourage them to walk with God. Or feel free to stock up and buy them all for all the children on your heart!

(And of course you can still buy Dernier books from us or from Christian Bookshops, if you need a ‘proper’ book.)

So until next time, enjoy the stories. May they be a huge blessing to all who read them!

Janet

P.S. Know anyone else who might be interested? Please do feel free to spread the word.

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All the Latest News!

Hello and welcome to the Dernier Publishing newsletter. Thanks for being here – I appreciate it so much.

I don’t know about you, but a couple of years ago, when we had been in lockdown for a couple of months, I was wondering when/if we would all be able to go back to ‘normal’.

Janet Wilson at Christian Resources Together Event

Who would have thought, two years on, that we would still be struggling with coronavirus?

There is now a kind of permanent, grinding uncertainty about our future. Will the pandemic return with other strains? Will vaccinations be able to keep up?

At the beginning of the pandemic it hit home to me in a big way that we only have today. People younger than me were dying. I learned, with fresh insight, to pray as Jesus taught us, Give us today our daily bread. It’s a good prayer, and a good way to live. Especially now, with the new uncertainty of the Ukraine war and the thought of nuclear weapons at the back of everyone’s mind.

But we know that all things are in the Lord’s hands, and if he has given us life today, we need to consider how best to use it. Today is a gift!

Your priorities will be different from mine. Maybe yours are friends, family, church, missions? Plus of course work, neighbours – and paying the mounting bills!

For me, as well as all these things, I want to help you get as many books as possible, into your children’s hands. My mission is to provide you with the tools.

Could you or your church buy books for school leavers, for a neighbouring school? Or for children at summer camps and clubs? If you would like quantities, please contact me – I’m sure we can find a way to help you, whatever your budget. Who knows what the Lord might do through your gift?

Or maybe you just want a book to read to your kids in the half term holiday?

Here’s the honest truth – we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but there are things we can do today. Better not put them off.

Choose your books today.

Wonderful News!

Here’s some wonderful news – you can now pre-order The Dove Stone! Yaaaaayyyy!!! This book has been a long time in coming, but now, at last, here it is. Thanks so much, if you have been praying!

“Join Doran, Rhiannon and her faithful dog, Wolf, in this action-packed adventure about friendship, facing fears and finding faith, set in the wilds of northern England in post-Roman Britain.”

It really is a fab story – do get one to read and pass on. You’ll love it!

It’s equally suitable for boys and girls.

As an introductory offer you can buy 5 get 1 free (why not set up a book club?) or a massive 30% off if buying 30 for a school.

Release date is 11^th June, and these offers will then go away, so order your copies now and you’ll be the first to get your books!

The author, Pam, has long been involved in teaching, and has made sure the book is perfect for schools to use in their curriculum. As always, there are discussion questions to go with the book.

Here’s what one young reader said:

“I think The Dove Stone is inspiring because it shows that even thousands of years ago, God was listening. I found it fascinating learning about how Christianity came to Britain and I would love there to be a sequel! I really liked the characters because I could imagine being friends with them (although maybe not Torsa!) and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next in their adventure. I found it really sad when Pilot died but I am glad Doran got to stay in the village in the end.” – Ellen

A couple of teasers there for you! 🙂

Here’s where to order your books.

Writers for a Reason Unite

Do you aspire to write fiction for children/teens? Would you like some help? I run a membership group called Writers for a Reason Unite, which is open for new members until 19^th May.

Follow this link for more details, or tell your writer friends! It’s great fun as well as helping you get your novel done.

Any questions, please do feel free to get in touch.

Christian Writers and Publishers Unite

It was a pleasure and privilege to travel to Hungary last month to Littworld, an International conference for Christian publishers and writers. I ran two different workshops – one on audiobooks and one on creating engaging characters for children’s books.

While there, I met publishers and writers from many different countries, including Ukraine. Children there learn to speak English at an early age, so I gave a pastor from Irpin a handful of our books (it was all I had with me).

Would you pray with me that those books will bring a little bit of light in the darkness? I’d love to do more. Would you pray with me for opportunities?

Thank you so much, once again, for being here – don’t forget, before you go, to get your copy of The Dove Stone!

Love to you all in Christ,

Janet

P.S. Don’t forget about the writing group, either. 🙂

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All the Latest News!

The last few weeks have had their share of problems… I went down with a virus, the storm damaged our garden office roof (where I work), our internet went down, and we got locked out of the Dernier website!

With all these things, we are truly grateful for your prayers, because we are now all pretty much back to normal. No more am I working with a tarpaulin flapping over the roof! That was a bit hairy, to say the least. I almost wondered at the worst hours of the storm, if the office might take off, with me still in it, hehe. 🙂

On to some very good news:

Nobody’s Dog will very soon be available in Italian! I have seen a preview of the cover, and it’s beautiful! We are so delighted that this lovely book will now be able to be read by children/families in Italy. Italy is a country with very few evangelical Christians, so publishing is a bit of a risk in financial terms. Please pray the book will sell well, and also that readers will learn about prayer and trust in God in readers’ hearts, as they read about Luke and the sad dog in the park.

Congratulations to author Eleanor Watkins, and to Angelica Perrini for all her hard work on the Italian translation. 🙂

Click here to buy the English version, or, of course, you can buy it from any Christian bookshop.

World Book Day

World Book Day has come and gone. Did you do anything special?

I did some talks for children via Zoom, organised by the Christian Teachers Association. Shout out to the amazing Ijeoma Nwaneri who worked so hard to make it all a success!

Here’s a little clip from one of my talks, which was entitled:

“We Don’t Do Religion! Why real faith matters in real life, and why it should matter in stories, too.”

I’m a Christian, and when my children were at school, it surprised me that there were very few books with characters who are Christian – who go to church, or to a church youth club, or who pray or read the Bible.

I’m sure lots of you pray and go to a temple, or a synagogue or a mosque or a church. Faith is a part of your life for at least some of you, I’m sure. But you’d never think so, from the books in the library!

I couldn’t find stories where faith is a normal part of life. The characters did all sorts of exciting things, but not a single one ever prayed!

Don’t you think that’s really strange? It’s like faith had been taken out of books and disappeared! It’s as if faith doesn’t exist in real life, but it does!

It was lovely to see the children’s smiling faces, from as far away as Tanzania. I do hope they enjoyed their time learning about why faith is important in stories, as well as looking at writing and the publishing process.

The children asked some great questions!

The Dove Stone

Once again we ask your prayers as this book goes through typesetting, proofreading and printing. Thank you so much! It will be such a relief to have the copies in our hands after such a long time working on it. Please pray for author Pam Daunton, as she plans to get it into as many young hands as possible. 🙂

Books for Easter

Easter is fast approaching. Is your church organising an outreach for children? If you would like books to give away, so the children can take the message home, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Book of the Month

Book of the Month – A New Me. As a special this month, we are offering 20% off this fab book by Edwin Roy Jones. Simply use the coupon code MANM2022 at checkout. If you know a child going through a tough time (for reading ages around 9-13), this is the perfect book for you. Jess doesn’t get everything she wants, but she does find new life in Jesus, after joining the local church youth club. Her new friend, Aidan, who is a Christian, befriends her, and so she finds a new hope after living through the break up of her parents.

Thanks so much for all your support and prayers. One by one, children are hearing the good news of Jesus through story. If, while you’re reading this, a child comes to mind, buy the book quickly, before you forget!

Blessings to you all,

Janet

P.S. In your prayers for Ukraine, please can I ask you to pray for Christian publishers there, for protection and deliverance, and that they can get back to their vital work of equipping the church as soon as possible? I heard from Andrey, a colleague from Esdras (Ezra) Publishing in Kiev, at the beginning of the war, but have not heard since. Words just aren’t enough, sometimes, are they? Thank you.

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World Book Day!

Janet, our CEO, is speaking at these World Book Day events, organised by the Association of Christian Teachers.

Readers are leaders, and it’s great to encourage our young people to get stuck into good books!

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New Year 2022

Dear Dernier Friends,

I wonder what 2022 holds for us all? One thing is certain – the Lord will be with us. He will never leave us or forsake us, and for that I’m sure we are all very grateful. May He lead and guide us!

As I look back over the last year, I want to thank you for your prayers for us as we help you reach the young people on your heart.

Our lovely new boxes full of books are going to churches and families, with massive potential to encourage and inspire readers of all ages.

Each holds a copy of just about all our books, so something for everyone. 🙂

Oliver’s Secret, our second book for 6-8s, was released. Yay! The main character, Clare, recently moved from China to England… just as many Christian families have been moving to England from Hong Kong. What excellent timing!

Year 0033 stayed in the top ten books in its category on Amazon for several weeks. 🙂

Books were shipped to all sorts of locations from websites and bookshops (thank you Christian bookshops for all you do to support us). Some were bought for refugees to England. Many were for precious younger family members. Teachers bought them for schools. Several boxes went to prisoners’ children. Dernier Book Club members received a book a month, which have been eagerly read!

And we’re not stopping now…

We even have a new Book of the Month idea! We thought we’d give it a go… This month the book is Revenge of the Flying Carpet. If you buy it from our website, you can get 20% off the cover price, with free shipping to UK addresses! The coupon code you need is: JRFC2022. Simply add at checkout and give to a child you’d love to learn about grace, forgiveness, justice… and, of course, revenge.

Girl holding Revenge of the Flying Carpet

Please pray for us as we press on with our aim of making sure every child has access to Christian books. Please pray for the Lord’s protection for us, for good health, for the technology, for our books to reach 10 X more children in 2022!

If we can help you with a project you run, with your school, church, family or ministry, please don’t hesitate to let us know. We would love to help you!

Grace and peace to you, as we serve our Lord together,

Janet

P.S. Please join us on facebook! You can find us here. Liking and sharing our posts will help us hugely. We want every Christian parent, teacher and youth leader to know where they can find good books for their children. Thank you. 🙂

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December News

Hello, and welcome to our newsletter – filled this time with all the info you need to find the perfect Christian books for the children on your heart!

We’re all short of time at this time of year (24 days until Christmas, yikes!)… so what I’m going to do in this post is write a quick idea of who each of our books is suitable for, so you can pick the absolute perfect book for each one of your readers.

Young people deserve to hear the good news – and story is a wonderful way to share it… so let’s dive straight in:

A Pennyworth of Peppermints

Perfect for 8-11s who love history, and any child who is going through separation from loved ones (Ben’s dad and brothers go off to war.)

A New Me

For 10-14s from a deprived background who feel stuck. Jess’s dad drinks, but she finds new life.

Christian books for kids from Dernier Publishing

Deepest Darkness

For 8-11s who suffer from anxiety, night terrors and panic attacks, whose fears control their lives. Abi begins to find light in her darkness and a freedom she never thought possible.

Rebecca and Jade: Choices

For teen girls needing to make good choices about friends and relationships. For those who have made mistakes, assurance that there’s always grace and a way back.

Revenge of the Flying Carpet

For 10-14s who are angry about life being unfair, and those who are bullied.

Living in Hope

For 8-11s who feel that life can be very unfair, and those who are not looked after by their biological parents.

Under the Tamarind Tree

For 8-11s. We don’t always get what we want, but God knows best. Encourages friendships and respect with others from different backgrounds.

The Beech Bank Girls Series

Through all the storms and joys of life, God is working out his purposes. Loads of issues are covered in these fun stories, including body image, relationships, step-families, grief and loss…and much more.

Every Girl Has a Story: God-given friendships are vital to see us through the storms of life.

Making a Difference: We don’t have to wait until everything is right to make a difference – we can make a difference right where we are.

Christmas is Coming! The girls find out the true meaning of Christmas through a string of disasters!

A Time Remembered: Through loss and sorrow, and also the joys of life, God does not change.

London’s Gone

For 10-14s for whom life has changed dramatically and suddenly. Maria, Emily and Arthur have to come to terms with a new reality when London is bombed by terrorists.

Box of Christian children's books going to Burundi

The City Kid

For teens who need to make good life choices. Even when everything goes wrong, there is forgiveness, light, life and hope… and a new start. Ideal for giving away at churches.

Year 0033

For teens and twenties. Encouragement for the future. Even during times of great darkness, oppression and persecution, God is still building his church. Gripping.

Nobody’s Dog

For 6-8s beginning to think about faith, prayer and trust for themselves. A first chapter book. Ideal bedtime story!

Oliver’s Secret

For 6-8s new to reading chapter books. Brilliant for any who feel lonely, to assure them that God knows our needs, before we even ask him.

The Only Way

For disaffected 10-14s who struggle with life, authority, and boundaries.

The Birthday Shoes

For 8-11s who love their friends and shoes! While out on adventures with her magic shoes, Emily Jane makes lots of friends, and discovers that she needs to ask Jesus into her life.

There are Discussion Questions for all our books on the website, so you can read them all together and make the most of every opportunity to talk about all the issues brought up by the stories – sharing your faith and building your relationship at the same time! Make this a holiday to count.

And if you’re looking for quantities for a group, let us know and we can sort something out for you.

Oh, and there’s a whole box of Christian books for families if you’re looking for a fabulous gift for a family who have several children 6+ but could no way afford to buy books for themselves… read more about that opportunity here.

Right, I must go – happy choosing! Let me know if you need any more help for a particular child on your heart. Always glad to help. 🙂

Every blessing for this precious time of advent,

Janet

P.S. You might also find loads of good deals at your local Christian bookshop, so do check there first – even if they haven’t got the books you want in stock, they can always order them for you.

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Our ‘Treasure Chest’ Box of Books

Are you looking for a gift for a family or readers, for a school or church book corner, with exciting stories to grip readers? Want to encourage and inspire these precious children in their faith? This box of books is for you. It really is a treasure chest, ready to take readers to far away places… all with biblical values. Don’t let yours miss out. Get your box here.

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News of the Latest Treasure!

Dear Dernier Friends,

Firstly, thank you for your prayers and support – without you we wouldn’t exist!

Real Treasure

I’ve been thinking about the pearl of great price, recently. Could anything be more important than our faith in Christ? To be a child of God, to know his presence with us, forgiveness of sin, mercies new every morning… what could be more wonderful than this?

Definitely worth giving everything else up for!

One day all worldly wealth will pass away, but no matter where we are on the rich/poor scale, if we are in Christ, surely we are the richest people in the world. Nothing else can compare with the treasure we have. 🙂

Sharing Treasure

We need to share this treasure with our children! Stories are a super easy way to do this. Stories help us make sense of the world we live in. They teach us about the world around us – the joys, the thrills, the adventures and the dangers, too! And they’re fun.

Christian books have the added bonus of a spiritual dimension. Children are hungry for it! One mum told me recently, “My son is devouring your books.” This eleven-year-old lad is growing in faith… seeds are being sown in his life for today and for tomorrow.

If you want a super fun and satisfying way to share good news with your children, to encourage and inspire them in their faith:

1. Keep a ready supply of Christian books

2. Read books together

3. Discuss books together

…Cover it all with prayer.

You don’t have to read the book to them. Simply read the same book before or after them… or catch up while they’re at school! Then you’ll be ready to discuss the issues with them over dinner, while driving them places, or at bedtime. Or if you don’t live with them (grandkids, godchildren, church group etc), set up a time to chat via WhatsApp or facetime. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!

Perfect!

Ready to buy a book now? Why not try a kindle or audiobook – download now and start reading (or listening!) this evening.

Don’t put it off – it’s too important.

Here are some ideas for kindle and audiobooks you could download and start enjoying immediately:

I want to be an airline pilot (on kindle) For 8-11s or family reading

The Birthday Shoes (audiobook) For girls 7-10s

Revenge of the Flying Carpet (audiobook) For 10-14s

Year 0033 (kindle) YA fiction

If you don’t need the book tonight (Christmas is coming!), you can order all our paperbacks from our website (inluding all the ones in the image above) or from your favourite bookstore. But don’t delay, or by the time you get round to it, your children might have grown up! 🙂

Treasure Chests

Talking of Christmas (we’re allowed to now it’s November, right, hehe?) are you looking for a gift that can be enjoyed by a family (or church family) again and again, that will be a blessing over and over?

Our fabulous box of books is for you!

You not only get a discount on the price of the books, and free shipping, but the price also includes a smart box, with magnetic closure – it really is a bit like a treasure chest!

We can send to any address for you. It’s the perfect gift for a family who wouldn’t be able to afford it themselves. 🙂 Click here to see the box and all its contents.

Oliver is Out and About!

Oliver’s Secret is a great book for discussing faith and prayer in a way that is relevant for today’s children – and it’s out now!

If you haven’t got hold of a copy yet, you can order it here or from any bookstore. If you’d like a copy signed by the author, I’d be happy to pass your details on to Eleanor – I know she’d be delighted to do that for you. 🙂

Right, I’d better go… lovely to talk to you again. May you be blessed as we move into advent.

Janet

P.S. Any queries about the books, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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Beech Bank Girls Videos!

We have some fabulous videos to share with you… do share with your friends! This year, let’s get the good news into as many young people’s hands as we can. Every one deserves to hear it. Every one is precious.

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The October Dernier Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Lots of news for you this month, as we move into the darker, colder days and nights of autumn.

Somehow, although we know it shouldn’t, the darker days can bring a feeling of sadness. Children feel this, too – we know how hard-pressed the children’s mental health service is, and it gets worse as winter presses in.

I almost hesitate to write this, as it’s so upsetting, but we heard of another local girl taking her life recently. She was 16 years old, and a talented artist, with her life ahead of her. Yet she seemed to think there was no hope. I just don’t know what else to say, except that we need to keep praying for our young people.

Hallow’een is coming up, too, with all its shades of darkness. Some kids don’t seem to mind the scariness – revelling in it, even – but others can find it deeply disturbing.

Books can change lives – that’s why we exist.

Let’s fight back and fill the world (as much as we are able!) with exciting, inspiring and encouraging Christian books that will fill our children’s minds, and our teenagers’ minds with good things.

They are sooo worth it!

If you are in the UK you can buy our books from any of your favourite book stores. Why not support your local Christian bookshop and order from them? They might even have some of our books on special offer. 🙂

If you are outside the UK, you can get some of our books through Amazon, and most on kindle.

Year 0033

Year 0033 reached third place in the Amazon best-selling charts for Christian fiction for young people last month – that’s AMAZING… and reviews have been very positive.

If you haven’t got your copy yet, you can buy it here.

If you have read it, please do post a review on Goodreads, Eden, Amazon and here on the Dernier Publishing website. Even the smallest review is enormously helpful.

The most important thing isn’t ratings, though. It’s that young people (and adults, too!) are being inspired. One reviewer said,

“This book is a very successful look into the hardship and passion that following God in difficult and dangerous circumstances can bring. The faith journey that the main character, Chella, goes on is powerful in emotion and love for the Lord. Pushing me to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters, this book is a real look into what our future world could possibly be. Though the book may be quiet, it speaks firmly to the importance of faith in God and commitment to each other within the church, both persecuted and free.”

Thanks Lynn!

You can read the full review here: https://cleanfictionblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/year-0033.html

Oliver’s Secret

Oliver’s Secret is due for launch on 1^st November, and is now available for pre-order here on our website! Yay!!!

As a ‘THANK YOU’ for ordering early, you will receive a FREE book (from the Dernier range), in with your order, to bless another child. You don’t need a coupon or a special code – we will add in one of our books with every order, and send your books together on launch day. 🙂

Oliver’s Secret is a wonderful story about seven-year-old Clare, who has moved from China with her family, and who is now feeling lonely in her new home. She prays for a cat, and along comes Oliver… but who does he belong to?

The story will keep young readers guessing, and give you a brilliant opportunity to talk about the role prayer can play in our lives, and the importance of friendship (making sure no one feels left out).

This book, with its gentle message of faith, is a bit like Nobody’s Dog in style, and is written by the same lovely author (Eleanor Watkins).

It’s perfect for bedtime reading, or for a first ‘chapter book’ for improving readers. The text is dyslexia friendly, with fun black and white illustrations.

It’s brilliant for any child who is struggling with change, is feeling lonely, loves stories, or who loves cats!

One young reader said, “I absolutely love this book! I couldn’t help but smile all the way through.”

You can pre-order the book here.

The Book Club

If you are a Book Club member, check out your letter from Joy this month for a special offer! If you are not a Book Club member, but would like to join (a book a month for the incredible price of £5), simply click here and sign up. 🙂

I think that’s it for now. May your autumn days be blessed!

Janet

P.S. If you were thinking of ordering a book/books, don’t put it off. Your gift could bring life.

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Show the Love

Dear Dernier Friends,

I was talking to my daughter-in-law recently, about work. She’s a nurse at a London hospital, in the children’s ITU. The work is varied – she sees children with cancer, asthma, diabetes and other long-term complaints. She also has children who have had accidents, and sadly, children who have attempted suicide (mostly teens, but not exclusively). Can you imagine? Part of me wishes I hadn’t asked, but honestly, it’s good to remember that although reaching this desperate situation is rare, childhood isn’t always the happy time we’d love it to be.

If you know a child who is going through a tough time, why not show the love and buy them a book? Just knowing you care could be a huge boost… you might even save a life.

This is our online catalogue, but do feel free to buy from your favourite bookstore.

While Stocks Last

The Birthday Shoes is getting low in stock. If you’d like a copy of the first edition, now’s your time to get one, or if your children have already got it and love it, why not buy it for their friends? Don’t miss out! Girls adore this book. 🙂

Bargain Box

Did you know we have a Bargain Box of 17 books for £84.99 (worth £107.83)? If your book shelves are already heaving, this isn’t for you! But if you have grandchildren who visit, or need presents for Sunday School children, local refugees, or to give to families who attend a group/club at your church, this Bargain Box is ideal. There’s something for everyone. 🙂

The Book Club

If that’s not for you, the Book Club is still running. Come and join us if you’d like to get a book a month for a fiver. It’s another bargain!

New Leaflets

We have new leaflets featuring all our books. If you’d like a bunch to give to your church or group, please let us know and we’ll send them to you. Thanks for your help in getting the word out there!

Young people off to uni?

A reader told me: “I finally finished Year 0033, I was savouring it and not wanting it to come to the end.” Year 0 0 33 is the perfect gift to send to anyone off to uni…

or there’s The City Kid. Both will inspire your kids to keep walking with God, even in the godless world around them.

Oliver’s Secret

This fab book will soon be available for pre-order. Your kids will love this fun story about a cat who has a secret. Where does he go when he’s not at Clare’s house? Clare learns about answered prayer, and realises that sometimes she has to wait. It’s written by the same brilliant author as Nobody’s Dog, and illustrated in a similar style. You will love reading this to your family, or if you have an enthusiastic young reader, they will enjoy the challenge of reading this alone.

Please Pray for Dernier

Please pray for us as we step out into enemy territory. Our children are so precious, and the enemy wants to steal their joy, their faith and their very lives. Christian books can give them a perspective on life that they had never considered before, and help them make sense of their world, and their faith. It seems we have to fight for every book – but it’s worth the fight, for the sake of our children.

Thank you so much for your support – it means a lot. In return, we hope our books will be a wonderful, rich blessing to your family. 🙂

Janet

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July News

Is your church looking for books to encourage your young people? It’s been a tough year for our children/teens, and they need all the encouragement they can get. Stories are a great way to bring fun, life, light and hope into their lives. All our books are great for prizes and presentations, or just a gift to say your church cares, to children you’ve been supporting over the last year or so (or you haven’t been able to support because of restrictions).

For those of you who are new to Dernier, all our books are chapter books, and are suitable from ages 6 – Young Adult. We do have discounts for churches, so please contact us if you need more info.

All our books are chosen for their biblically accurate content, thrilling stories, engaging characters and exciting plots. They do not necessarily end with ‘happy ever after’, but always with hope. They deal with all sorts of topics. Some are fantasy. Some are gripping dramas. Some are set in the future; some in the past. Some are set in the UK; some in other countries. All are fun!

Jesus told stories, because story is the most powerful tool there is to touch our thoughts and our hearts. Stories allow us to think over issues in safety, and come to our own decisions. Stories don’t judge us, make us feel guilty, or push us into things. We can read them at our own pace and in our own time. Books are a non-threatening gift, and can become friends that can be read over and over again.

With your gift, readers can join the characters as they fly to faraway places, solve crimes, meet amazing people, defeat evil, travel back in time, catch the spies, escape to safety, beat the bullies… They can also learn that they have a Father in heaven who cares for them, that God answers prayer, that he has a plan for them, that they are unique and beautiful, that their life has meaning – that it’s great to be a Christian!

It’s time to sow some good seeds – who knows what might grow from your priceless gift to the young people of your community?

You can, of course, order all Dernier books from your favourite bookstore, or from here on our website.

Oliver’s Secret

We now have the illustrations for Oliver’s Secret, by Eleanor Watkins, so typesetting is underway! I can now reveal the final cover… drum roll…

Isn’t Oliver gorgeous? 🙂 And here’s one of the illustrations, by Josh Williams:

This story is about seven-year-old Clare, who moves from China to England with her English dad, Chinese mum and baby brother. At first Clare is lonely, but there are answers to prayer – some of which are rather surprising! This is the perfect story for family reading and for new readers who like a few pictures, a simple page layout and large, clear (dyslexia friendly) type. If you enjoyed Nobody’s Dog, you will love this one! If you haven’t yet got your copy of Nobody’s Dog for your collection, you can order it here or from your favourite store.

Quick Tip – Bargain Book!

I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but some bookshops have Year 0033 on special offer right now – cheaper than our own website! So if you wanted to get a few copies for your young people for summer reading, as ‘well done’ presents for exam results, for students going off to uni or just to put away for birthday gifts (I’m not going to say Christmas!)… now’s your chance. 🙂

This book is selling really well – please pray for the young people who are reading it. It brings a message of hope despite all the trials and difficulties that come from the past to haunt us; from the present to bring us down; or from the future to steal our hope.

Here’s a review from Amazon (reviews are currently 79% 5* and 29% 4*):

“A gripping read, so many questions along the way. Twists and turns kept me up late at night, and a nail biting ending meant I didn’t get to sleep till the early hours. Dystopian fiction with a God-centred message and believable, fallible characters.” – Joy Vee

If you want to try before you buy, you can read the first chapter on our website here. Then hop on over to your local Christian bookshop and see if you can get it a bit cheaper – useful if you want to buy several copies for your young people – and it will help the bookshops, too!

Gift Cards

If you’re not sure which book to buy for a nephew, niece or godchild, you can now buy a Gift Card! You buy the card (from £6) – and your loved one can then choose their own book. We hope this will help save you that awful dilemma when you just don’t know which one to choose – and it’s exciting to be able to choose your own book. I remember the joy of receiving Book Tokens as a child and choosing in the bookshop – wonderful!

Leaflets

We have some brand new leaflets. If you’d like some to give away, to put out in your church, homeschooling group, for book bags for pupils at Christian schools… or whatever, please let me know how many you’d like and we will be delighted to send you some. Let’s get the good news out there!

Thanks so much for reading this! If there’s anything further we can help you with, please don’t hesitate to get in contact.

Every blessing,

Janet

P.S. Please forward this to your children’s and family worker, minister or other relevant person. Some churches who don’t usually give away books, might want to do so this year. It’s a unique opportunity to reach out to young people in need.

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Exciting News!

Summer has reached us at last! Isn’t it wonderful to enjoy the sunshine, which reminds us of God’s faithfulness?

I don’t know about you, but this year has gone by so far in a bit of a blur. I feel extremely fortunate to be doing a job I love, with no restrictions… I hope that you, too, will have things you can thank God for, despite all the difficulties.

New Books

We are awaiting the illustrations to go inside Oliver’s Secret, then we will be ready to go to press! As soon as we have a publication date, I will let you know. Please pray for us as we put the final touches to the book and plan the launch.

The Dove Stone, set in Lancashire in post-Roman Britain, is at the editing stage.

The Treasure Hunt is getting a new cover!

All these new books will soon be ready for you to give to the children on your heart, to help you share your faith. Exciting!

Latest Releases

Year 0033 has had some excellent reviews – most of them 5*! You can watch the trailer here. If you haven’t bought this book for your young adults, don’t delay – they will be inspired, and it’s perfect weather for reading outside! It’s the perfect gift for anyone finishing university.

Many adults have also read it and loved it, so you might like to read it first… in fact, the lady who deals with our account to secular bookshops has been reading it (how great is that?). She told me: “I am half way through the copy of 0033, a great read, I usually read crime novels, It feels very true to life at the moment, it appears to me this is where we could be heading.”

Brilliant! And if you want to know what she means by that last phrase, you need to get yourself a copy. 🙂

If you have younger readers, or are looking for exciting family reading, Nobody’s Dog is flying off the shelves and out of boxes. Early readers love this book with its fun story. Kids absolutely love stories of faith – they seem to have an innate understanding that God cares for them. Books like this fill them with joy. Perhaps you bought a copy or two back in the autumn – is there another family/young reader you would like to inspire?

The City Kid is now available worldwide. That’s cause for celebration – tell everyone you know! Every teenager should have a copy of this book. John wants nothing to do with God and spends all he has in wild living… but when everything is gone, where is there left to go?

If your church has opportunities to give books to teens in clubs, or to school leavers/young offenders, do not pass by on the other side. You will have seen images on the news recently about the awful effects of knife crime in our cities – and there are so many more issues young people face. A book can bring hope to the hopeless and light in the darkness. Each one of these young people is precious. We may feel powerless, but we’re not. A book in the right hands can change the course of a life. Samuel said about this book:

“This book was thought-provoking, because when it all went wrong for the main character and life didn’t work out how he expected it to, it was easy to relate, because this is how life really is… reading this book has strengthened my faith.”

This fast-paced read has a dyslexia friendly format and discussion questions at the back that you can use with groups.

Churches, Charities and Schools

We have a discount scheme for charities, schools and churches. If you need quantities of books, we’d love to help you. Please contact us for more information.

Book Club

Our Book Club is growing! Every month, for just £5, you get a surprise book from our range, sent to you in the post! If you would like to join, please click here.

Affiliates

For the first time ever, we have an affiliate scheme. If you love our books and would like to promote them, please contact me and I’ll pass on some more information. Thanks to Dernier fan Lucy, for making the suggestion! Lucy is mum to four children… her son, Joel, who is 11, recently read London’s Gone and said:

“I thought London’s Gone was one of the easiest to read, page-turning books I have ever read.”

You can buy your copy of London’s Gone here.

Contact us about the affiliate scheme – you can make a bit of money for yourself or a charity of your choice, while promoting Christian books. It’s win/win!

Bookshops

You can, of course, order all our books from your local Christian Bookshop. Some do mail order, if you can’t get there, or if you are not yet up for shopping in person. If bookshops are to survive, they need our support, so do consider buying from them. They also have a wide range of books for adults, beautiful cards with biblical verses, Bibles, daily reading notes, gifts and CDs. Definitely worth a visit if you can make it, or a virtual visit if you can’t!

Finally…

Please can I ask you a favour? If you or your children have read any of our books, would you be kind enough to write a review on our website? We have a new bit of software which makes it easy! All you need to do is:

Click on the book you want to review
Scroll down to the ‘Reviews’ tab.
Give your star rating (1-5) and write your review in the box.

We will approve your reviews before they are published (this is to stop spammers), so you can expect to see your comments up very soon!

Thank you so much for reading this far. I hope we will be able to help you reach out to the children on your heart – it’s what we’re here for.

Be blessed,

Janet

P.S. To save you searching, this is the link for London’s Gone. This is the link to watch the Year 0033 trailer on YouTube. This is the link for the Book Club. Click here to contact us for info about the affiliate scheme or for quantity discounts. I look forward to hearing from you!

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A New Year

The last year has been a tough one, hasn’t it? So much uncertainty, so many trials, so much suffering. At times it’s all seemed overwhelming.

Our children are certainly not exempt from the troubles of this pandemic, but neither are they exempt from the comfort that the presence of the Lord can bring. We are grateful for the opportunity to be able to help you bring good news to the children on your heart, through our books. What a privilege that is!

Whatever we go through, we have the assurance that our God is a faithful God. He will never leave us or forsake us. Even if we go through the valley of the shadow of death, we need not fear any evil, for his guidance comforts us. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He is the light of life. He is the way, even where there seems to be no way. He is a very present help in times of trouble. God is good, all the time!

The Good Bits of Last Year!

It was exciting to be able to bring out our first illustrated book for 6-8s in the autumn. Thank you all so much for all your kind comments on this book! We’ve heard of so many families who have enjoyed sharing this delightful story together, or who have sent it to children they haven’t been able to see. Some children have got to grips with reading for the first time, and along the way have learned a bit more about prayer, trust and faith. Wonderful. 🙂

Then there’s Year 0033 – again, reviews have been excellent – most readers have given it 5*s. How vital it is that we bring hope to our young people!

Here are the links for Year 0033 and Nobody’s Dog, if you haven’t ordered your copies yet. Or if you’d like some more! (Of course you can buy both from Christian bookshops, or from wherever you usually buy your books.)

Starting 2021 Well

We believe all children should have access to Christian books in a way that suits them, in a language they understand… and we have great news for the new year! Nobody’s Dog is going to be available in Italian! More details next time. 🙂 I couldn’t resist sharing that news with you, though!

Plus we are working on more books… don’t worry, we’ll let you know when we have any release dates.

Kindle Books

Did you know that you can buy a kindle book for a young person anywhere in the world? All you need is their email address, and they can read the book on their phone! Most of our books are on kindle – do check out your favourite title. For a very small amount of money (most are just £1.99!) you could change a life.

Finally, we pray that all the books you bought last year will bring much blessing to all who read them.

I’ll be in touch again soon, but in the meantime, stay safe. God is with us.

Janet

P.S. Here are the links again to Nobody’s Dog and Year 0033. Don’t let your loved ones miss out.

P.P.S If you don’t already subscribe to this newsletter, please click here. You could win a copy of Year 0033!

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Dernier Publishing Online Catalogue

Take your children on a faith-building adventure! Choose which one here:

Dernier Publishing Online Catalogue

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Latest News from Dernier Publishing

Christmas is nearly with us, with all the opportunities that affords us, to reach out with the good news of Jesus!

Nobody’s Dog

If you want to encourage a family in their faith this Christmas, or reach out with hope in a gentle way, this is the perfect gift for 6-8s/family reading. Luke learns about prayer, faith and trust as the stray dog in the park learns to trust him. As with all our books you can buy it from our here, or from bookshops, or from wherever you usually buy your books!

Here are some reviews, in case you’re not sure:

“I just wanted to say that we finished the book and my daughter, Faye (7) loved it!”

“It was a lovely story, which kept [my daughter] engaged throughout and wanting to know what would happen next. We loved the simple message throughout that God answers prayer (in his own time and way) and that he is in control even when life is tough!”

We have already sold over half of the first print run of this wonderful book! 400 of these books are going to prisoners’ children via Angel Tree (part of the Prison Fellowship). Please do pray for all those who will receive a copy, that seeds will be planted that will bring joy to children who have a parent in prison.

Book Club

Our book club is well under way! Members receive a book a month for £5 – some of the books stay at home to encourage members’ children, but others are going from there to nephews, nieces, grandchildren and at least one godchild.

One book is off to New Zealand! This is a fabulous way to reach out with hope in these tough times, through story. Join in the fun here – it’s a bargain, and it’s fun, because you will get a surprise in the post every month! Plus we have a facebook group, so we can chat about the books, and pray for each other.

Year 0033

This is a tough one to advertise, because it’s my own book. I first got the idea for the story when I was sitting in my garden, late one summer evening. It gradually got dark – I could feel that darkness coming down, and it seemed to press in all round me (I was surrounded by shrubs). Then I looked up and saw the sky – not dark, as I had expected, but a glorious, almost translucent, shade of blue. And I knew I needed to write a story for young people which would inspire them to keep looking up, even when everything around seems to be falling apart.

The timing is perfect.

This is the blurb: Chella has lived the whole of her life in Area IF208, one of many Areas set up by a new World Council after war, famine and plague cause global devastation.

Religion is banned, supposedly for the sake of world peace, so Chella has to keep her Christian faith a secret.

But when her best friend disappears, her fiancé is arrested, and astonishing rumours of people living Outside surface, a new chapter in her life begins.

Chella is an unlikely heroine, battling a troubled past, a dangerous present and an uncertain future.

“Shine your light into our darkness, Lord, and by your graceprotect and deliver us from all evil this night; in the name of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, we pray.”

Never has Chella needed to pray this prayer as much as she needs to pray it now.

She has no idea how much is at stake.

We have received some amazing reviews, including the following:

“A breathlessly good read!” – Daisy

“I read this book in just a few sittings because my heart was in my mouth.” – Catherine

“I enjoyed it so much that the only time I stopped reading was to eat.” – Elissa

As with all our newer books, this one is dyslexia friendly. You can order it here for the young people on your heart, or from bookshops and online book stores.

If someone comes to mind, get it now, before the thought goes away and the seed is never sown. You never know what might happen as a result of your gift.

Here are some more Christmas present ideas:

How lovely are the feet of those who bring good news. Simply go to the home page and have a browse!

I probably won’t be in touch again until 2021, but I hope you have a safe and blessed Christmas.

Let’s let our lights shine.

Janet

P.S. Here are the links again:

Nobody’s Dog for 6-8s/family reading.

Book Club a surprise book a month for £5.

Year 0033 for teens.

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10 Reasons to Buy Christian Fiction for Your Children

4. They raise issues from a biblical perspective

5. They take readers to exciting, far away places

They are brilliant for cosy family reading

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Books Change Author’s Life

Author Mary Weeks Millard knows how books can change lives – because they changed hers!

She says, “I loved school, but was very shy and had few real friends. My friends were often my books! I read avidly and was introduced to Christian stories when I was in hospital for a long time at the start of my secondary school life. My Sunday School teacher realised I was bored and brought me lots of books. I was hooked! I hope my story books bring as much joy to the children who read them as those books brought to me – and they made me understand that God was a real and loving Father.”

Mary has written several books for Dernier, including A Pennyworth of Peppermints, The Birthday Shoes, and the Rwanda series, which are on special offer this month. Click here to take a look. They make excellent presents for the children on your heart.

#dernierpublishing #maryweeksmillard #christianbooksforchildren #africanstoriesforchildren #warstoriesforchildren #bookschangelives

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Hope – an Anchor for the Soul

Good morning! It’s sunny here right now, though I don’t know for how long! I do love the sunshine. It raises my spirits and somehow brings hope with the warmth and light; especially now, in these difficult times, as the days are getting darker. How we do need hope! As a friend said to me at the weekend, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Of course, those of us who have been born again have the tremendous privilege of knowing that there is better to come – this hope is an anchor for the soul, but there are still so many people waiting to hear this good news…

I heard on Saturday evening the terrible news that the friend of a friend’s son had taken her own life – she was just a young girl. The enemy is stealing our children’s joy, light, hope and life... this is a tragedy, and we need to fight back. Too many of our young people are struggling with sadness, depression and hopelessness. Books can help. They can give a new perspective, help readers to see things they hadn’t seen before, show the way, shine a light.

One young reader, who read I Want to Be an Airline Pilot at school, said: “I recommend this book. It is a heart-warming story. This book is about a little boy’s dream to be a pilot but I think it deviates a bit (in a good way) because they have a lot of problems. But then life isn’t perfect, is it? Personally I think these kids are very brave. I think the message in this story is: even in tough situations, God will always make a path for you if you respect and pray to him.”

With all this in mind, we have a special offer for you. You can get hold of the full set of our three books set in Rwanda for the special price of £15.99 so you can bring hope to the children you love. Many people are looking for books for their children just like this, during Black History Month. What a great opportunity!

Here’s a little clip from I Want to Be an Airline Pilot:

“The next day, Sam and Shema were the centre of attention, because the news had spread throughout the village that they had managed to kill a spitting black cobra! They were heroes! As they went together to the well to collect the water, they were asked to tell the story over and over again. People were so amazed, that it made Shema realise more and more how much God had helped him, because it was a miracle that they were alive and the snake was dead, and not the other way around!”

These books have changed lives. Don’t let your loved ones miss out. Martha told us: “I really like all the books that Mary Weeks Millard has written. They make me feel very peaceful and help me to forget all my worries.”

May your life also be filled with hope, as you bring hope to those around you.

In Christ,

Janet

P.S. Welcome if you’ve joined our Book Club – we’re excited to see what the Lord will do through your books! More info here if you’ve not yet joined.

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The Dernier Book Club is now LIVE!

One thing some families have in these tough times, is more time to read stories together!

In previous emails and posts on social media I’ve mentioned that we are setting up a Dernier Book Club… well as from today we are LIVE! Yaaayyyyy!

This isn’t a club where you read the book then discuss it, it’s a Book Club where for a monthly subscription, you receive a book in the post from the Dernier range of titles!

Perhaps it will be a mystery adventure for 8-11s, or a more thoughtful novel for teens… what you can be sure of, is that every one will be a fun read with good news to share.

What will you do with your books?

You might like to build up your own library
You might give your books away as birthday or Christmas gifts
You might like to give your special book away to a different child every month – perhaps to remind them of what they mean to you, or for a child going through a challenging time.

Books can be vital in helping children to meet with God, learn about Him and to navigate the tough moments in life – you can be a channel of blessing with your gift.

This is the link to join/read a bit more information. We hope this will be a useful resource to help you reach out to the children on your heart with GOOD NEWS. They certainly need it right now.

Thanks for reading this post. We are so grateful to be partnering with you in sharing these fabulous stories.

Every blessing,

Janet

P.S. Here’s the link again, in case you missed it!

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Dernier News!

Welcome to all the latest Dernier Publishing news!

Wow, what a time we are living in. The news has just come in that from Monday, only six people will be able to meet together (that’s in England). And we just don’t know what will happen next…

But no matter what happens, one thing remains – our God remains constant. His presence will always be with us. What a wonderful truth to rest in when all else around us is chaos.

That’s good news to share, which brings me nicely on to Nobody’s Dog, a story all about faith and trust – and a stray dog! We have just received the printed copies (after a bit of a delay) and they are FABULOUS! The books are illustrated, dyslexia-friendly, and perfect for family bedtime reading.

If you are quick you can still pre-order this book and get a chance to win a selection box of books… PLUS a free book, which is a bit of a crazy offer, but the offer ends on Sunday, so better do it now! This is an excellent story for building faith and trust in God. Children so badly need to hear this message right now. Don’t let your kids miss out.

Click here to get your copies and your chance to win the prize, too, worth – I don’t know, about £80 I think. So order now for Christmas, (hehe, sorry to mention that word in September), or for your Sunday School group, because every book you order gives you a ticket for the draw.

You can also order the book from your local Christian bookshop – they may well have other offers on, too, plus cards and gifts and Bibles and so much more – definitely worth a visit.

Dernier Book Club

We are setting up a Dernier Book Club! For a £5/month subscription you can have a book sent to you automatically every month, to build up your collection or to give away… or you can do both if you have a double subscription!

I’ll let you know when we’re live and ready to go. 🙂 The lovely Joy McIlroy, who helped out when she was on furlough, will be back with us to run the programme, so you will be in safe, friendly hands!

More Books

We have more new books in the pipeline. Please do pray for these. Year 0033, for YA girls, and The Dove Stone for 8-11s. Plus we’re working on a way to get The City Kid back out again on print-on-demand. We have a new cover for it… but we’re not there yet…

Thank You

I just want to say thank you so much for your support for us all at Dernier, as we keep moving forward by the grace of God and as a result of your prayers.

There just aren’t enough good Christian novels about! Stories are vital tools to help children meet with God, learn about Him and to navigate the tough moments in life – you can be a channel of blessing with your gift. We are here to enable you to do just that.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you,

Janet

P.S. This is the link to get hold of your copies of Nobody’s Dog and enter the free draw. Don’t miss out!

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August News

As we press on in these difficult times, are you looking for ways to reach out to your neighbours and friends? So many people are looking for the way, the truth and the life, but they don’t know where to find it. Books are a great way to share your faith with gentleness and respect – they allow the reader to make up their own mind, without you having to say anything more than, “I saw this and thought of you.” Particularly when you can’t invite them to a meeting!

This includes children, who are unsettled, missing their friends, and in some cases grieving the loss of loves ones. Don’t miss the opportunity to reach out to them – who knows what tomorrow will bring?

We believe every child should have access to excellent, relevant, fun Christian books. We want to give you every opportunity to reach out with hope, life, light, faith, forgiveness and grace to all the children on your heart.

With the recent Black Lives Matter campaign in mind, do you know a black child and want to say in a tangible way that their life matters? We have several books with BAME characters. I gave London’s Gone to a black lad from church and his face was beaming as he told me about it the following week. It’s the first time he’s read a Christian book with a character he could identify with. I don’t think any of us realise quite how important this is.

Some of our books are out of print, but we still have copies of most of these:

[photo]

And Nobody’s Dog!

Our Big News and a Big Competition!

Nobody’s Dog (by the fabulous Eleanor Watkins, illustrated by Josh Williams) is now available for pre-order, which is wonderful news!

Pre-order this fabulous book about a boy, a dog, friendship, prayer and trust (Release date: September 2020) and we will put your name in a draw to WIN a FABULOUS SELECTION BOX OF 14 BOOKS!*

Every book pre-ordered from our website will give you one ticket in the draw to win, so if you order 10 books, you will have 10 chances to win. Pre-order here!

One lucky winner will win the selection box, but we will also send a runner-up prize of one FREE BOOK to the FIRST 300 people who pre-order through our website*, so don’t delay, the rush has begun. 🙂

You do not have to add anything at checkout to get your free book – it won’t appear on your order, but will be added automatically at our end, and posted with your copy/copies of Nobody’s Dog. More details here.

*UK addresses only, sorry. One free book per household – except for the lucky winner of the Selection Box!

Here’s an interesting snippet of information: Nobody’s Dog was first published by Scripture Union in 1994, but their range of Christian fiction for children gradually dwindled, as churches gave up giving out Sunday School ‘prizes’. Life has changed somewhat since 1994, so we’ve updated the text and the illustrations, but here’s a thought: Did you, or your children, look forward to receiving your Sunday School ‘prizes’? I’d love to hear from you if you did. My children received some lovely books!

Even if your Sunday School doesn’t usually give away end of year books, could your church still send the children who would have come to holiday clubs a book each? Books can be a link in a chain, keep the children connected to the church, and to God.

Who knows what a book might do? Please do pass on this idea to your church minister – they are probably so busy trying to sort out the next round of government guidelines that they may not have thought of it (I never thought I’d be saying that in a newsletter – what strange times we live in).

More News

I Want to Be an Airline Pilot Competitions

Competition entries are slower than we hoped (perhaps children have had too much school work to do at home!), but there is still nearly a month to get your entries in! If your children (or children you know) enjoy drawing, or would like to write a poem, a story, a review or a prayer, please do encourage them to take part. It’s a brilliant way for kids to engage with biblical issues in a way relevant to them. All you need to do is

Read the book
Draw or write your entry
Email us the story/review/poem/prayer, or a photo of the picture they have drawn.

Perhaps this is something you could get your Sunday School/Kids Club children involved in? Books are just £2.99 from our website, or 99p on kindle, which you can also read on a phone… Deadline is 31^st August.

Right, I must go! Hope you are all keeping well. If you’d like to know more about anything, please don’t hesitate to contact me. It’s always lovely to hear from you.

May you have a blessed August.

Janet

CEO, Dernier Publishing

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July News

The Future is Uncertain

I don’t know about you, but I sense a feeling of uncertainty in the air again. As lockdown in the UK started to ease, we were beginning to relax… then all of a sudden we hear about a spike of coronavirus cases in Leicester, as well as in Beijing. The situation in the US continues to worsen, and such heartbreaking news comes from poorer countries. Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the coronavirus in so many different ways.

Along with the uncertainty comes anxiety. Will we see loved ones again? What if we’re next? How will we cope financially? Mental health is being stretched. We are missing meeting up for fellowship and worshipping together. And we don’t know how long this is going to go on. Our children desperately need encouragement at this time.

The truth of the matter is, we don’t know who or where the crisis will hit next. There are no guarantees for the future, either for ourselves or for anyone else. Like never before, we need to be saying, ‘if the Lord wills, we will do this or that’ – and that’s maybe not a bad thing! The wonderful thing is that although we may be living with uncertainty, nothing takes our God by surprise, and we can trust Him. We have already passed from death to life! No matter what happens, our lives are in His hands.

I Want to Be an Airline Pilot

Now bookshops are open again, our books are no longer on sale on our website (please support your local Christian bookshop if you are able), except we have kept I Want to Be an Airline Pilot at half price, to encourage as many children as possible to join in the competitions.

I’ve already mentioned the competitions in previous letters, so I’ll just put the link here for you to follow for more information. In a nutshell, the competitions are brilliant for getting children to draw close to God, to be creative and engage with issues of faith… and what could be better than that? Get your children involved, if you haven’t already. 🙂

(And please pass on the link to your friends!)

Write for a Reason

If you’ve been receiving Dernier news for a while you’ll already know all about the Write for a Reason online course – God willing we will start with a new group of students next week, and it’s not too late to join. You can read more about it and register here.

If you know anyone who’s new to writing Christian fiction for children, please let them know.

This is the last time I plan to offer the course half-price, as we come out of lockdown, so if this is something you’ve been planning on doing, don’t put it off!

Please Pray

Please pray for all the books that have gone out during the lockdown. Well, not the books exactly – the readers! Some readers are facing particular difficulties – do pray that they not only enjoy the stories, but are touched by the Holy Spirit as they read. This is a tough time for children, but the books are all good fun and encouraging, too. Prayer changes things!

Nobody’s Dog

Nobody’s Dog should be out in the autumn, God willing! 🙂 Nobody’s Dog is our first illustrated book for 6-8s. Here’s a sneak preview of Luke with Mr Bronzovi. Thanks to Josh Williams for the illustrations! If you have read the digital version and have yet to give a review, I’d love to hear from you. Maybe your child’s review will make it to the cover!

Donate Books

Could you buy books to give to family, to loan to children, for chaplains, for Sunday Schools and groups, to give to neighbours and your children’s friends? Who knows how far your seeds might go, and what fruit might grow? Our church donated Dernier books to families who come to the Community Fridge. People with no previous contact with the church were excited to receive them – one mum I spoke to said her children were loving the stories! Whole families may get to read them, enjoy them, and discover the way to Jesus!

Finally

I’m humbly grateful to the Lord for allowing me my health and strength at this time when so many have suffered so much. Thank you for your prayers for me and for everyone involved with Dernier. Please continue to pray that the Lord will accomplish His purposes in and through us.

Grace and peace to you,

Janet

Founder, Dernier Publishing

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Sowing Seeds with Christian Books

Be the one who buys the book who changes the life. How do you know your books will change lives? You need to keep sowing seeds. The more you sow, the more fruit will grow. Some seed will fall on rocks and among weeds… but what farmer would ever say, I shan’t bother to sow seeds because some won’t grow? We’d all starve!

Girls love our Beech Bank Girls books. Filled with fun, adventures, truth, difficult situations and faith, these girls are learning to walk with God. Let them inspire your girls, too! Today only (02.07.2020), get 10% off if you buy any of these fabulous books from our website. Add coupon code BBG at checkout.

Sow seeds in your girls’ lives. Don’t let them miss out.

“I really like all that happens in this book especially how they all work together. I think you should read it, and I think that you will enjoy it too!” – Daisy (reader

“An excellent book. Eleanor Watkins has a good grasp of the issues faced by 11-14 year old girls today combined with an ability to write for them in an engaging, interesting and relevant way. I would particularly recommend this book for girls who will be moving on to secondary school in the foreseeable future, as well as those already in years 7 and 8.” – Brenda (teacher)

“My 13 year-old granddaughter was riveted, and read through all four books about the Beech Bank Girls in the half term week that she stayed with me.” – Rosemary (grandparent)

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Video Reviews

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June newsletter

Dear Dernier Friends,

Thanks for coming over to read our news. You will be encouraged!

Stay Alert!

We love our sparrows! They nest in the hedgerow opposite our house, and in trees in surrounding gardens. They have their enemies, though. This year we have had an influx of bold magpies, arriving in chattering groups, plunging into the trees to steal the nestlings. Horrid!

One morning, as I was having my quiet time, a black cat slunk under the bushes, where the sparrows love to flit and quarrel. He was there so long I’d almost forgotten he was there – until he walked out licking his lips, then stopped to wash his face… oh dear. It wouldn’t have been hard for him to catch a sparrow unawares.

Then there was the sparrowhawk we caught sight of one evening, ripping up a sparrow on one of our fence posts. I know, they have to eat, too… Sigh. We look forward to a time when there will no longer be any more sorrow or sighing, and every tear will be wiped away.

In the meantime, we also have to live with our enemies around us. One of the messages of our time is to “stay alert”.

Those of us who know our Bibles are already familiar with this thought. We are told to, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1Peter 5:8, NIV)

As we stay alert and take care to avoid spreading the coronavirus, let’s also be alert, and sober, and pray for our children, and do all we can to build up their faith now, while we have the opportunity to do so. The consequences don’t bear thinking about.

Big Day for Children

Today (1^st June) is Children’s Day, which isn’t the same as International Children’s Day (which happens in November!)… but still, every opportunity to remember and celebrate children and their welfare is good. 🙂 Plus, today is a big day for children here in the UK, as some of the year groups go back to school. No doubt some children will love to see all their friends again, get back to learning in a classroom setting and join in all the activities, while some will find it hard. May the Lord bless each and every one (and their teachers!), and keep them safe.

Here’s a prayer you might like to pray for children going back to school today (and in the weeks to come, as more children return):

Dear Father God,

We pray for all the children who are returning to school today, and ask for your protection over them.

We pray that the children and staff will cope well with the extra difficulties and regulations that have been put in place.

We pray for shy children, that they will not feel lonely. We pray for mischievous children, that they won’t cause problems for others. We pray for those who struggle with anxiety, that they will feel calm. We pray for those who know you, that they may reflect the light of Jesus.

We pray for a sense of peace in the classrooms, and for joy and fun in all the lessons and activities.

We would like to bring before you (mention child’s name and any issue you know they face). Thank you that you love them, and you delight to answer our prayers.

And dear Father, we pray that many children will come to know you and be strengthened in their faith, in this new season of their lives.

In Jesus name,

Amen.

Competitions

If you are reading this on 1^st June, head over to the Dernier Publishing facebook page, where you will find we have competitions to celebrate Children’s Day – you might win one of our fabulous books! You will need to like, share and comment on the post. Several books are up for grabs, so feel free to join in them all. 🙂 The posts will look a bit like this:

Bookshops Opening

On 15^th June, some Christian bookshops will be re-opening in the UK, as the lockdown eases. Many have closed down completely over the last few years, and a whole swathe closed in January. Any remaining bookshops need our support, so if you can get to one, please do.

Half Price Books

These are tough times financially for many. As only a few children in our readers’ age category are back at school in England, and not at all in other parts of the UK, we have decided to keep all our books at half price for another few days, so if you have a Sunday School class you would like to buy for, or a group, or an individual, or a school, or a library… well, any children anywhere, now’s your chance to be the one who brings good news of peace. Like, right now!

All you have to do is choose the books. We can send them to any UK address free of charge. Simply add your chosen address at checkout.

We desperately want as many children to have access to the good news through story as possible. This is why we exist, and that is why we have this offer running. We can’t run it forever, because we have bills to pay and new books to produce. Please pray with us that the Lord will provide, so we can continue producing more books and reaching more children, as long as we can. This is the link to get your half price books. (They are just £2.99 each, but have eternal value in their pages.)

May the Lord bless and keep you, and all the children on your heart,

Janet

‘

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Christian Books for Children and Teens; Write for a Reason; Competitions and Prizes; Building Faith in Families.

April was a full month! We started a new Write for a Reason course, which is always exciting. This course is for anyone who wants to write novels for children/teens from a Christian perspective. The need for good reading material for our young people is huge, so it’s wonderful to be able to train more writers in the art of story writing. You can read more about it here. Do pass the info on to any budding writers you know. Or maybe you’d like to have a go yourself? It seems to me that the Lord is raising up people who want to share their faith through stories for children, but anyone trying out a new skill needs to learn their trade if they want to be successful – hence Write for a Reason!

More and more former students are going on to finish their books and get them published, which is brilliant. One of our students said, “I have learnt so much! I want to keep writing and honour the Lord with what I believe he’s put in my heart.” Amen! Stories are an excellent vehicle for the Holy Spirit to touch lives – the more stories, the merrier. 🙂

Competitions

Our competitions based on the book I Want to Be an Airline Pilot are now in full swing. We are delighted and honoured that Rev Mary Hawes, National Children’s Advisor for the Archbishops’ Council, will be judging the prayer competition. Paul Kerensa, award-winning writer and comedian, will be judging the poetry competition (along with his children!). Ben and Hannah Dunnett, a brilliantly creative couple, will be judging the picture competition, and Deer Path Photography will be judging the photos. Watch this space as we appoint more judges!

It’s exciting, not just because the competitions are fun (and children need something to do at home!), but because families engaging in this lovely story will grow in faith together.

For more information about the book, the competitions, and how your children can join in/win prizes, please click here.

Christian Bookshops

Bookshops are still closed at the time of writing. Please pray for those who have a passion for keeping Christian bookshops open in the UK – they face an uncertain future. In the meantime, some have online shops, so please do use them if you can.

Coronavirus and Loss

Sadly, many children across the world will have lost much-loved grandparents and other relatives and friends to the coronavirus. Those who are not bereaved are still facing losses of other kinds (as are we all)… loss of freedom, not being able to meet up with friends and, in some cases, not being able to get away from difficult situations at home – financial pressure, hunger, mental illness, addictions, abuse… and so the list goes on.

If you know children you are concerned for, please do buy them a book – some desperately need to know someone cares, more than ever.

Books to bring hope

Books to bring joy

Books to bring peace

All our books are currently half price from our website (£2.99 each). We can send direct to any address. Or you can buy the kindle versions instantly wherever you are in the world.

For 10-14s who have no church background, The Only Way would be a good choice – it’s a fast-paced, quite short story. The lad runs away from home due to bullying. The Christian element to the story is subtle. Younger children (8-11) might like Living in Hope. Frida, from a child-led family, gets tricked into becoming a domestic servant. Children in single parent families would identify with Jess in A New Me. Her dad drinks, and the family faces eviction, even after he leaves. After a new start, Jess starts going to a church youth club where she finds out what a Christian is. Revenge of the Flying Carpet, for 10-14s, is good for bookworms from broken homes – Paul seeks revenge, but gets more than he bargained for…

If you have any queries about any of our books, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

All of them have touched lives, and are continuing to do so.

Joy on Furlough

Shout out to Joy McIlroy, who is helping us with our social media, while she is on furlough! Thank you Joy! I first met Joy many years ago at a Christian book trade event, and we’ve kept in touch since. She usually works for CWR, but as she has a bit more time right now (and lots of skills!), she has volunteered to help out. Joy is married to Doug, has two children and lives in Hampshire. If you see some interesting posts on our Facebook page over the next few weeks, it’s probably thanks to Joy! 🙂

If you have some spare time and some skills we could use, please considering volunteering. I’d particularly love to hear from a book cover designer…

(In case you’re thinking, that’s really cheeky, just to let you know that everything we earn goes ploughed back into producing more books, so we can reach more children with the good news.)

Books Going Out

These books are going out today!

Please pray for the children who will read them. Thank you! We are here to serve you and your children. Please do let us know if there’s anything we can do to help you.

With love to you all,

Janet

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Good News in the Darkness

When children can’t meet up with their friends or go to church clubs and groups, Christian books make brilliant presents.

A book can be a friend for the lonely. The characters can inspire, and truths can be shared through an exciting plot. A book that shares good news can be a cup of cold water to a weary soul, food for the hungry – and several hours of thrilling reading for those who just love a good story!

If you know a child who needs to hear some good news, don’t let them miss out.

All our books are still half price during the lockdown – you could save a lot of money if you are buying for a group. 🙂

And don’t forget our competitions, which are a brilliant way to get whole families engaged with I Want to Be an Airline Pilot.

Here’s a little taste of the book, from chapter seven, when Shema goes to get help for his sick brother, but finds himself in danger instead:

He wanted to try to escape and run home but as he tried to call out “help!” his voice just seemed to dry up inside his mouth. He knew, too, that these huts were away from the road and the other houses, so nobody would hear him anyway.

I Want to Be an Airline Pilot and Deepest Darkness

This time, when the tears came, he could not even wipe them away. They fell down his face and felt salty on his lips. He realised he was also very thirsty. From somewhere deep inside him Shema felt he should talk to Mister God, even though he had never met him and didn’t know where he was.

“Mister God,” whispered Shema through his dry mouth, “you gave us warm clothes and Mama Grace and the teacher both said you loved us. I don’t know how you can, but help me now, please help me!”

We are delighted that the talented Ben and Hannah Dunnett have kindly agreed to judge our picture competition, based on this exciting story! Hannah is a Christian artist with international acclaim; Ben is a songwriter and worship leader. We’re so thrilled to have them on board!

May the Lord bless you this week, and if there’s anything we can do to help in these uncertain times, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

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Our Children’s Security is at Risk

Security is a basic human need. We all need to know where our next meal is coming from; that we are safe from the enemy – if we don’t have these things, we are not at peace.

In the very depths of our souls we all long to feel safe and settled. We have jobs so we can provide for our family and locks on our doors to keep out intruders. The idea of ‘living peacefully under our own fig tree and vine’ is more than a bit appealing – we long for this at the very heart of our being and do our best to make it a reality.

As Christians we know that our safety and security lie in knowing Christ, our Rock, rather than relying on our circumstances. Some of us will have been saying that for years, and believing it. But right now, the carpet is being swept from under our collective feet – we are all being tested together.

Where does our security really lie? On what are we depending? What gives us peace?

All of us have been touched by Covid-19 in one way or another – and it’s unsettling. We don’t know who will be next to succumb to the virus. None of us knows what our long term future will be.

Our children are also in this with us. They are on lockdown, cut off from their friends, not knowing when they will be able to go back to their school, sports, church and groups. They are watching the scary images on the news. They don’t know who will be the next victim – will it be a loved member of their own family?

Even as I write, the dad of a teenage girl in our church is in the high dependency unit of our local hospital. Our hearts are aching for the family, and for all the thousands of families who are touched by what is for them, more than news on a screen. If this is you, I am so sorry.

We all need to know that our security is in Jesus – to know His peace. That underneath everything are the everlasting arms of the Almighty.

Our children need to know this, too.

All our books aim to build faith through the medium of fun, relevant stories. The characters in the stories have to go through all manner of difficulties, but every story ends with hope (even if it’s not the wanted or expected outcome), because that’s true to life – whatever happens we know the One who holds all things in His hands.

If you have a child on your heart right now:

1. Browse our books

2. Choose one

3. Have it sent directly to them (just put their address in the ‘shipping’ box).

We will do the rest!

Here’s some good news for you… we have started to receive entries for our summer I Want to Be an Airline Pilot competitions! It’s all good fun, and faith building, and we’re delighted to announce that the wonderful, funny, Paul Kerensa, has agreed to judge the poetry competition, along with his two children. 🙂

You can read more about Paul here on his website.

One mum said to me in an email, “Thank you for setting up these competitions. These books are such a blessing and my daughter’s favourites!!” Her daughter has entered a beautiful poem and a prayer for the children of the world.

Want your children to take part? They can, wherever they are in the world. They will grow in faith as they engage in Shema’s exciting (sometimes scary!) adventures and discover the identity of Mr God, who sorted a new top for Shema when a goat ate his only T-shirt. Click here to go to the Summer Competitions page.

The paperback is £2.99: the kindle version is instantly downloadable all over the world for around £1.99.

Entry to the competitions is completely free and there are lots of prizes!

Finally, if you have a copy of Nobody’s Dog to review, please can you send your reviews to me by Monday, please? Thanks so much! The best will go on the back cover of the book.

Right, let’s keep fighting!

Janet

Click here to get your books.

Click here for the competitions.

P.S. Anything you’d like to ask, please feel free!

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Why We Exist

Too many children are leaving the church, and growing up not knowing that God loves them. We believe every child should have access to fun, relevant Christian books that share the good news of Jesus.

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Easter Good News?

Good morning. I hope this post finds you and your family well and coping with the lockdown. Yesterday I ‘met’ with my Bible study group on a facebook live, which was interesting! We all prayed for each other – for elderly parents, friends and family in the front line of health care, families home-schooling and so much more… I hope you are finding ways to be encouraged and find fellowship. If you have any prayer requests, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’re all in this together.

Easter is just around the corner, but we won’t be able to meet in our church buildings as usual. Would you, or your church, consider giving books to church children, or children who might usually attend a holiday club?

All our books remain at half price (£2.99), and will remain so during the coronavirus crisis.

Now is the time to pass on hope at this time – all our books are full of hope, light, life and fun! We may not be able to meet together, but books are a brilliant way to get good news into children’s hands. Please pass on this information to your minister and/or children’s workers, and share on social media.

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We mustn’t miss this opportunity – people are desperate for good news. Congregations can be encouraged and whole families reached with Christian books for their children, especially as they see the church caring for their children in a tangible way.

I am going to try to set up some book-related activities for children at home. Please pray for this, too (help!), and if you have any ideas for activities/competitions, please pass them my way, especially if you are a teacher/home-schooler!

Finally, to encourage you, an excerpt from book review of Beech Bank Girls, Every Girl Has A Story we received this week:

“This is the best book I’ve read in my entire life and I definitely recommend it! Out of 10 I would rate it 10/10! Such a good book. I enjoyed reading it so much.”

If you have a book review, we’d love to hear from you! If you need to buy the books first, start here. 🙂

May the Lord bless you and keep you through this testing time, and if we can help you with books to reach out to the children on your heart, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Together in His service,

Janet

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Rebecca & Jade: Choices, Discussion Questions

Rebecca and Jade are at a clinic specialising in teenage pregnancy. One of them is pregnant; the other has come to give support. Do you know any teenage girls who are pregnant, or think they could be? What advice would you give if you were asked? What could you do to support a pregnant teenage friend?
Jade has devised a plan for her life. Is this a good idea? Why or why not? Do you think Jade’s life plan might partly be a result of her own insecurity, or do you think we should all have one?
Jade and Rebecca are complete opposites, yet they have become close friends. Do you have friends whose attitudes, ideas, personalities and backgrounds are very different from yours? Does this help or hinder the friendship?
Rebecca was surprised when hers and Adam’s first date was at a church youth club. Are youth clubs a good idea? Do you know of, or attend, any in your area? Do you think the church should do more to help young people? In what ways?
Rebecca watches a film about life before birth, and her whole idea about pregnancy and choices; i.e. termination, changes dramatically. What causes the change? What are your own ideas about an unborn baby? At what point do you think the ‘mass of cells’ becomes a human person?
Rebecca and Adam are in love, and finding it difficult to put limits on their relationship. Do you think it is OK to have sex before marriage? People sometimes say it’s OK, “if no-one is being hurt” – do you think that’s a fair statement? Why or why not? Do you think God is interested in our relationships?
Jade was taken advantage of by an older man who deceived her about his intentions. Charm can be deceptive, but it’s not always easy to see it at the time. Have you or has anyone who know, been deceived, exploited or abused by an older man or woman? What can we do as a society to protect vulnerable girls and lads from abusive people?
Jade is prepared to sacrifice her own privacy for the sake of Rebecca’s reputation, even though she knows there will be repercussions for herself. What do you think this says about their friendship?
Rebecca and Adam both come to faith in God through Jesus Christ. Do you think having a faith is important? Do you think all faiths have equal value? What do you think about Jesus’ statement that he is the way, the truth and the life, and that no-one comes to the father except through him? (John 14.6)
Does it matter if, like Adam, we have doubts about God, about Jesus, about the Bible? Do we have to get rid of all our doubts before we can come to faith? Why is it important to have someone with whom we can talk things through, maybe someone older? Is it important to meet with other Christians?
Both Rebecca and Jade come to realise that the birth of a baby is one of the most awesome things in the world. The Bible says that every new baby is designed and created by God, and is precious in his sight – each one with individual and unique talents and of great value. What do you think of that idea?
Do you think Jade made the right choice to keep the baby? What difficulties do you think she will face, bringing up a child on her own? What issues might the child have? How do you think the adoptive parents would have felt? If you had written this book, how would you have finished the story?

If you would like to speak to someone about any of the issues brought up in this book, please contact the author through the contact form on the Dernier Publishing website, or seek help from an adult you trust, who can put you in touch with someone to talk to.

You can also contact Pregnancy Matters direct by phone, message or text, by following this link.

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Good News for Dark Times

Good morning from the quiet outskirts of London. It’s nearly 9am as I write this, and usually the road is busy, but right now there’s just the odd car passing by. These are extraordinary times, aren’t they? We need to keep praying for all those affected.

Good News of Hope – Books to Share

One wonderful thing is that few children are becoming ill with Covid-19 – what a mercy that is! Of course, children are still affected – those with underlying health problems are still at risk, they may begin to lose loved elderly friends, relatives and neighbours, and they may be stuck at home with no clubs, groups, sports and even school.

We’d love to help you if we can – not every child is a reader, but most love to have a story read to them! We’d love you to be able to share our books with their message of light, life and hope with the children around you.

At the very least, reading Christian books is something positive to do! At the very best, books change lives… a young lad at church has just read Mystery in the Snow. He told me it’s the best book. He was so excited to read about Christian kids, just like him. Who knows what will stick with him for the future?

We’ve been considering how we can best respond to help YOU and would appreciate your feedback on the following two questions:

Who would you most like to buy books for, if money were not an issue?
Would you be more interested in kindle books, or paperbacks?

Please contact me via email – or on our facebook page, or in the comments below with your replies to these two questions.

Thank you so much for your help. We want to make sure that what we do will meet your needs, while still managing to make ends meet at our end. Always a balancing act! 🙂

Dyslexia friendly books

Some honestly good news to encourage you. We’re delighted that some of our dyslexia friendly books have reached Star School in Rwanda. Special needs teaching is brand new for this school, so they are delighted to have some resources. Please pray these books will be a wonderful blessing to children in the schools who struggle with reading – not just that they will help with education (although that’s wonderful!) but that they would also be touched by the message of the good news. Thank you!

New Books in the Pipeline

You already know about Nobody’s Dog, for 6-8s. If we have the resources, we will also bring out The Cat with Two Lives, for the same age group. We are also working on a book for 8-11s called The Dove Stone by new author Pam Daunton. It’s set in post-Roman Britain and will feature Rhiannon and her dog, Wolf, who looks something like this:

Pam went in to a local school to talk to the children for book day. She told me, “The juniors were fascinated by my character Wolf and enjoyed thinking about the words we could use to describe him.” Pam regularly takes collective worship at the school, so the children were surprised she was talking to them about writing for a change! Please pray for us as we work on producing these new books for your children. Thank you!

Whatever is happening around us, we plan to continue bringing out books to help you reach the children on your heart with the good news of Jesus. Every book you give away has the potential to bear eternal fruit.

Please keep praying for us, and don’t forget to respond with how we can best help you with our books.

A: Who would you most like to buy books for, if money were not an issue?

B: Would you be more interested in kindle books, or paperbacks?

Thanks so much,

Janet

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“No other medium can witness so daringly, abide so persistently, or influence so irresistibly as the printed page.”

Good morning and welcome to this little bit of Dernier news, with a prayer request, an inspiring (sobering) quote and an idea!

First, the prayer request. As some of you know, we are working on a couple of stories for younger children (6-8-ish). I had lots of offers to review Nobody’s Dog – I must have sent the manuscript to upwards of 30 people – I lost count in the end! Thank you if this includes you!

In this book Luke learns about trust and prayer as a stray dog learns to trust him.

Please pray many children will be touched as they read it on their own or with their parents. Please also pray that we will get lots of reviews (they really do help people choose), that production will go smoothly, and that in the future the story will be well used and loved and touch many young hearts all over the world.

Thank you for your prayers. Without prayer we wouldn’t exist!

On to the promised quote, which made me want to jump up and shout YES! when I read it in a facebook group I belong to:

“No other medium can witness so daringly, abide so persistently, or influence so irresistibly as the printed page. It can be obtained and studied secretly, get undivided attention in quiet hours, leap language and cultural barriers that hamper personal contact, go where the human missionary cannot, and it lives after the spoken word is lost.” – Samuel Zwemer

So true, every bit as much for children as adults! How many of us have pored over ‘printed pages’ which have touched our hearts and changed our lives?

If you need a book for a thirsty young soul, how about Living in Hope, set in Rwanda? One young reader said, “Everybody should read this book.” It holds words of life, and can be read over and over again. Or have a browse for, either in your local Christian bookshop, here on our website 🙂 or buy the kindle version or the audiobook.

An idea: With the above quote in mind, if your church runs children’s groups, uniformed organisations, Easter clubs, or supports a local school, would you consider giving books away? You can give a message once, or your children could take the message home with them. The ‘printed page’ could then witness daringly, influence irresistibly, be studied secretly, get undivided attention in quiet hours, leap language and cultural barriers and live after the spoken word is lost.

Contact me for quantity discounts and to help you choose the right book/s for you – we’d love to help. Cost: worth every penny.

Right, better dash – lots to do!

Have a lovely week,

Janet

P.S. Don’t forget to check out Living in Hope.

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All the February News in One Place :-)

A Dream Come True!

Yippeee and hallelujah! Our first book is being printed in Kenya through our partners in Nairobi! Thank you to Grace and the team from CLC Nairobi, who have helped us to make our dream come true. Now we no longer have to ship books to this region. 🙂

We decided to start with I Want to Be an Airline Pilot. Children love this story, and I know many of you do, too. The first 100 books will go to Education Bridge Africa as a ‘first fruits’ gift. If you’d like to join us and add a book or two, or several, or 100, or even 1,000, please visit the ‘Donate’ page. Every book has the potential to touch many young lives, as they will be going to schools desperate for resources.

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In some cases, in deprived areas, the schools have no reading books! Not one! This shocking statistic shows there really is a desperate need. Education Bridge Africa have the vision to make sure every childhas access to reading books.

Your gift will:

1. Help children with their education, and so give them a chance to escape from poverty

2. Give them the joy of story

3. Show them they have a Father in heaven who cares for them.

The truth is, we can not give books away without your help. We just do not have unlimited funds. But we want to help, too, of course!

So we will match your donation. If you buy one book to give away, we will have two printed as a gift. If you buy one hundred, we will have two hundred printed. Every £5 you give will therefore supply two books.

You can visit the Donate page on our website for more details.

**More Fabulous News – Mystery in the Snow in Croatian**

There’s a bit of a story behind this book – I received a letter purporting to be from Parcel Force last week, saying they had a package for Dernier Publishing, but due to inadequate address details, they were unable to deliver it. I could ring the number and pay extra for delivery to another address… etc, etc… it sounded like a scam to me!

I decided to visit the depot and take the letter with me – lo and behold, there really was a parcel, which held two copies of Mystery in the Snow in Croatian!

As you know, Figulus, a Christian publishing house in Croatia, has published some of our books in the past… this is the latest.

This hardback book is a beautiful gift for any young reader – not just a lovely book with a fun story, but a story bearing good news, with characters just like them.

Please do pray for the Croatian children who read our books (Figulus have also published The Treasure Hunt and three of our Beech Bank Girls books).

According to the latest census, 86.28% of Croats are Catholic, 4.44% Orthodox, 1.4% are Muslims and 0.34% are Protestant. We pray that these little books will change lives!

(Quick question: do you think we should follow suit and bring out some of our books in hardback? Would you be more likely to buy a hardback than a paperback? Would you be willing to pay the extra cost? Let me know your thoughts.)

Writing Workshop

Attention writers of children’s stories (or anyone who would like to have a go): I am running a FREE writing workshop at the Eastbourne Christian Bookshop next Saturday morning (8th Feb), as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations. If you’d like to go, there is a phone number on their website for you to register your interest. If you’re anywhere near, do come – it would be wonderful to meet you!

Hand in Hand Children’s Ministry Conference

On the same day, in the afternoon I will be speaking at the Hand in Hand Children’s Ministry Conference, also in Eastbourne. The title of my session is Exploring and Discussing Faith at Home Through Children’s Books. Sharing our faith with children is a priority, but it’s not always easy. In this session we’ll be looking at three easy ways to use books to start discussions. I will be giving out a free goodie bag of books for every attendee, so if you have anything to do with children’s ministry, do come – it’s not too late to book!

I have also been asked to speak at‘MediaFest2020’ – a European Christian publishers’ event in Prague in April – more details in due course. Thank you so much for your prayers for all these wonderful opportunities to help equip others to share the good news.

I think that’s all the news for now – you can keep abreast of news in between these newsletters by visiting the dernierpublishing.com/blog any time. And do feel free to get in touch, with any comments or queries – it’s always lovely to hear from you. 🙂

Grace and peace to you in abundance,

Janet

P.S. My eldest son and his wife live in China. With all the uncertainty, I’d appreciate your prayers for them. Thank you.

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Our ‘Pilot’ Book

Hello, Janet here with exciting news… our first book will be printed in Kenya tomorrow through our partners in CLC Nairobi! We will see this sample via Whatsapp video – amazing! As a pilot (sorry for the pun!) we have chosen one of our best-sellers: ‘I Want to be an Airline Pilot’. 🙂

Children love this book! If all is well we’ll go ahead with an initial printing, which will go to Education Bridge Africa as a ‘first fruits’ gift. If you’d like to join us and add a book or two, or several, or 100, please visit the ‘Donate’ page and we will add your books to the box!

Every book has the potential to touch many young lives, as they will be going to schools desperate for resources – and it will save the shipping! In some cases, in deprived areas, the schools have no reading books! Not one! Our gift will:

1. Help children with their education, and so give them a chance to escape from poverty

2. Give them the joy of story, and

3. Show them they have a Father in heaven who cares for them.

Let’s do it!

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FREE Writing Workshop

Have you ever thought about writing stories for children? Fancy attending a workshop? Janet here, founder of Dernier Publishing and Write for a Reason. I’m running a FREE writing workshop at Eastbourne Christian bookshop, as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations. Love to see you there! It will be fun and informal, but with useful content. Contact me for more information!

🙂 Don’t miss out!

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I Want to Be an Airline Pilot

Please pray for us as we work to get this book printed in Kenya. Thank you!

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Nobody’s Dog – Sneak Preview

We’re working on some new books – Luke learns about prayer and trusting God in Nobody’s Dog…

Here’s the first chapter, to give you a sneak preview:

Chapter 1

“There’s that dog again,” said Luke.

“Are you sure it’s the same one?” asked Mum.

“Yes,” said Luke. “I can tell by its tail. It’s got a bushy tail like a fox, with a bit of white at the very end.”

Mum came over to the window and looked down at the park with Luke. Spring was almost here, and the trees had fresh buds all ready to burst out. There were the first yellow daffodils nodding their heads in the flower beds. But it was still cold outside, and people walked along with their coats on and heads down against the chilly wind.

Lots of dogs were being walked, because it was Sunday afternoon. Some were on leads and some were off, chasing balls or sticks or just running.

But this dog was all on its own. It was a medium size dog with a feathery tail and small cocked ears. It had a brown and white coat and would have been quite pretty if it wasn’t so thin. It stood on the grass near the laurel bushes, watching the people passing but keeping a good distance from them.

“It’s a stray dog,” said Luke. “It doesn’t belong to anyone.”

“Oh, I’m sure it must do,” said Mum. “It’s just wandered off, that’s all. There aren’t any stray dogs in the park. Or if there are, the Dog Wardens will soon round them up.”

“What will they do with them?” asked Luke.

“They put them into kennels,” said Mum. “If their owners don’t come, they’ll try to find a good home for them.”

“But what if nobody wants them?” asked Luke.

“Well…” Mum looked uncomfortable. Then she said, “Luke, you’ve got action figures all over the table, and I want to set it for tea. Come and clear them away.”

Luke came and began to gather the figures together. He knew Mum didn’t want to tell him what happened to unwanted dogs. That meant it must be something nasty.

He didn’t like the thought of something nasty happening to the brown and white dog. He had seen it several times during the winter, from the window. Once or twice on his way to school he had seen it through the park railings. It looked lonely and sad, but he saw that it always kept well away from people and other dogs.

Pets were not allowed in the apartment block where Luke and his mother lived, except for little ones in cages, like budgies or hamsters. Luke had a hamster himself, round and brown, which picked up food in its little paws and stuffed it into its cheeks until they were full. Then it spat all the food out into a store it had made at the back of the cage.

Luke was very fond of Hammy, but there wasn’t a lot they could do together.

Luke liked living on the third floor of their apartment block, though Mum did not. She had put their names down for rehousing. She wanted somewhere with a garden, and hoped it would be soon. But Luke liked being able to see out over the roadway and into the park. He liked travelling up and down in the lift, and even climbing the stairs when the lifts weren’t working. He didn’t mind not having a garden. But he did wish they were allowed to keep cats and dogs.

Luke and Mum had their tea and then they went to church as usual. Luke kept a look-out for the brown and white dog as they passed the park. But the dog wasn’t about.

After church, he asked Mum if they could go into the park for a while. Mum said they could, as the evenings were getting lighter now, and they were well wrapped up.

“But stay where I can see you,” she said.

There were still people about in the park. The ice cream van and hot dog stand were beginning to pack up for the day. Daffodils were bright yellow against the grass, and tulips were showing their first bits of red. Luke ran round the circular flower-bed keeping a look-out for the stray dog. Mum turned up her coat collar and sat down to rest on a bench.

There were still some dogs about, but all of them were with somebody. Luke hoped that the Dog Warden hadn’t come and taken him away. Then, suddenly, he saw the dog. It was standing quite near, at the edge of a clump of bushes, watching him but ready to run at any moment. Its ears were down and its tail between its legs, as though it expected to be chased away. Luke saw that its ribs showed under its brown and white coat. It was hungry.

“Hello, dog,” said Luke softly.

The dog just stood and watched him. Then, suddenly, it turned and dived into the bushes. It disappeared among the dark green glossy leaves, but next moment Luke saw it come out at the back of the bushes. Then it ran off out of sight behind the shelters.

Luke parted the leaves and went a little way into the bushes, peering about in the dark green gloom. There, deep in the bushes, was a kind of scooped-out hollow in the ground. The leaves and twigs around it made a sheltered, secret hiding-place. This must be where the stray dog lived, with an escape exit at the back.

“Luke!” called Mum. “What are you doing? Come back over here, please.”

Luke let the leaves fall back and ran over to Mum. He remembered the dog’s hungry brown eyes and the way its ribs stuck out. “Mum,” he said, “could I have a hot dog?”

Mum looked doubtfully across to the hot dog stand. “I think the man’s packed up for the night.”

“Not quite,” said Luke. “If I’m quick.”

The man served him a lukewarm hot dog with the last scrapings of fried onions. Luke ran over and pushed it through the leaves, putting it on the ground just in front of the scooped-out hollow.

“Whatever are you doing?” asked Mum.

“It’s for Bushy,” said Luke.

“Who on earth is Bushy?”

“The dog,” said Luke. “The stray dog. I think he lives in those bushes. And he’s got a bushy tail. I thought Bushy would be a good name for him.”

“Oh, Luke, said Mum. “It was kind of you, but don’t ever try to touch that dog, will you? Especially if there’s food about. Dogs like that can be dangerous.”

“Bushy’s not dangerous,” said Luke. “Just lonely and sad.”

“All the same,” said Mum. “Remember what I’ve told you. That dog will probably be taken away soon. Dogs like that just aren’t allowed to run wild here, and a good thing too. Just forget about him. Come on, it’s cold and it’s getting dark.”

Luke followed her, putting his cold hands into his jacket pockets. But he knew he would not forget the brown and white dog.

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New Book!

We are really excited to tell you about a new book we are currently working on, called Nobody’s Dog. This lovely story by Eleanor Watkins features a dog who lives in the park opposite Luke’s apartment, but appears to belong to nobody.

For 6-8s, this is a wonderful first chapter book for new readers, or for you to read to the children on your heart. Luke learns how God cares for him, and how He works through trials to help us trust him more.

We will keep you up with developments!

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January 2020 News

Wow, can you believe it’s 2020!

Firstly, Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed the Christmas and New Year festivities. Probably, if you’re like everyone else, there were lovely moments and more difficult times. Trials are part of life, and as Mr Bronzovi says to Luke in Nobody’s Dog (see below!) “…we’ll get through, with God’s help. Learning to trust him, a bit more each time.”

It’s our aim to help you reach more children than ever this year, so children know that even as they face trials of their own, God is with them.

Lad reading I Want to Be an Airline Pilot

Exciting New Projects!

This year we are planning some BIG NEW THINGS to help you reach the children on your heart:

1. BOOKS FOR 6-8s.

You have been asking for books for younger readers, so we are providing! These will still be chapter books, but they will be shorter, simpler, and have black and white illustrations. The first will be Nobody’s Dog, by the wonderfully talented Eleanor Watkins. Nobody’s Dog was first published by Scripture Union, but is now out of print. We have updated a few small things and will be making it available to inspire a whole new generation of children! This is a lovely story. We do not yet have an illustrator for this book, so if you know someone (they must have experience in the field) please contact me.

2. HISTORICAL FICTION FOR 8-11s.

We have signed a contract with brand new author Pam Daunton, for a book called The Dove Stone, which is set in post-Roman Britain. We are delighted to be adding historical fiction to our list! 🙂 There’s some work to do on the manuscript yet. We hope to bring this book out by Christmas, but no promises! I am meeting up with Pam soon, so will bring you some pictures. Are you on Instagram? If so, find me on janetfromdernierpublishing to keep up with news. 🙂

3. LARGER BOOKS

This year we are starting a project to bring out our books IN A LARGER FORMAT. The smaller format is much less popular than it used to be, so we need to keep up with trends. As books go out of print, we will replace them with a larger version… that’s the plan, anyway! Please pray with us to keep as many books in print as possible.

4 PRINTING IN KENYA

If possible, we would love to start PRINTING OUR BOOKS ON DEMAND IN KENYA, so we can more easily reach needy children in East Africa with our books. As my friend Joan pointed out to me yesterday while we were having coffee, many children in Africa are desperate to read. The need there is huge and we have lots of requests… this would mean we don’t have to ship the books, which would be a huge plus! This has been a dream for a long time – maybe this year it will be a dream come true! We would value your prayers.

5. BOOKS FOR SCHOOLS

Later this year we hope to begin a CAMPAIGN TO UK CHURCH SCHOOLS. Having our books in church school libraries would mean the stories would be available to children from every background. We hope you will be thinking of which schools you will be able to put forward for a free pack of books with all our information!

Please pray for all these wonderful projects. We would value your prayers for wisdom, strength and all the resources we need… and if you have any ideas, please do get in touch. It’s always lovely to hear from you. 🙂

Conferences

I am booked to speak at two conferences this year, so far. Next month I will be running a seminar at the Hand in Hand Children’s Ministry Conference in Eastbourne. If you are involved in children’s ministry in any capacity, do check out the link. The title of my seminar is ‘Discussing Faith at Home though Children’s Books‘. Such a vital topic!

I have also been invited to speak at the MAI Europe Mediafest 2020 in Prague in April. Details to come, but I will probably be sharing something of the Dernier story to encourage other small publishing houses from countries across Europe who do not have a tradition of Christian publishing, and maybe offer some training in story writing for children, too.

I’m very much looking forward to both! Please pray for me as I try to fit everything in… eek!

Angel Tree

Please can I ask you to pray, lastly, for all the prisoners’ children who received a copy of Under the Tamarind Tree for Christmas through Angel Tree (Prison Fellowship)? Who knows what the Lord might do through these 500 books? But we need to pray.

Thanks once again for your support, encouragement and prayers.

We are here to help you reach out to the children on your heart through story, so if there’s anything we can do, please let us know.

May the Lord’s grace and peace rest upon you now and always!

Janet

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Getting Ready for World Book Day!

We are counting and packing up books for World Book Day today, to be distributed to Christian bookshops in the UK.

The cover of Mystery in the Snow is looking a bit dated, but it’s still a fun story – you will be able to get as many copies as you like on World Book Day from Christian bookshops for £1! I believe that will be Thursday 5th March. 🙂

Make the most of this great offer – and if you don’t think your kids will like the cover because it’s old-fashioned, read it to them instead!

There’s lots in this story for you to talk about (there are ten discussion questions you can download on the website here) from a Christian point of view, to help you share your faith with your children, and encourage them in their faith.

You will be encouraged, too! Don’t miss any opportunity to read Christian books with your children. It is through stories we make sense of the world!

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Our Mission Statement

Welcome to the first post of 2020!

Here is our new Mission Statement:

“Many children are growing up not knowing that God loves them; Christians have a responsibility to let them know. Stories help us make sense of the world, so we produce fun, relevant stories for children with a Christian element. These range from spy stories, to mystery adventures, to dramas and fantasy – and they all have children as the main characters!

Our aim is to get as many Christian books as we can into as many readers’ hands as we can, all over the world, for as long as we can.

We dream that one day every child will have access to the good news of Jesus through story in the language and format (traditional books, ebooks, audiobooks, large print books, Braille) best suited to them.”

We do hope we will be able to continue to support you as you reach out to the children on your heart in 2020 and in to the future.

If you have any queries or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

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A Pennyworth of Peppermints Reprint

These arrived on a lorry today, unexpectedly – our new reprint of A Pennyworth of Peppermints! We weren’t expecting them until the New Year – good thing we were in the office today!

Do you enjoy reading to your family? If so, this is the perfect book for you. Kids love this story. A message in a bottle in rhyme helps three children find a spy! Also lovely for schools – there’s so a lot of fascinating background to living through the Great War, from a child’s point of view. If you’d like one (or thirty!), you can order them here, or from your local Christian Bookshops, or to wherever you buy your books.

🙂 Don’t miss out!

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Kids Excited for Christmas?

Kids getting excited for Christmas? You could always download one of our books on kindle, or on audio! Nothing like a good book to encourage and settle down for a while. 🙂 Click below to get this gripping story on kindle:

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The Greatest Christmas Gift

Some children will receive lots of expensive gifts for Christmas… some not so many… some may not have anything to unwrap, but the free gift of God is salvation for all who call on him, however old they are. If you’d like a book to pass this message on, let us know by tomorrow, and we’ll get it to you first class!

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Don’t Leave it Too Late!

Last call for books for Christmas! If you know a child who loves to read (or loves being read to), now’s the time to show them you care.

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Know a Child Going Through a Tough Time?

Child on your heart? Bring them the message of the good news in a story…

Christmas tree of Christian children's books

If you need help choosing, please ask! 🙂 We’d love to help you choose.

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Reading Aloud

Did your mum read to you when you were little? Or your dad? Or anyone else? Who was your favourite? We would love to hear your memories! 🙂

Don’t forget, many of our books are now available as audiobooks. There’s something wonderful about hearing a story with a human voice, don’t you think? 🙂

Why not try this one? Great for 10-14s who believe in justice… you will enjoy it, too! 🙂

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Angel Tree

We were delighted to receive this in the post – we’re so pleased to be working with Prison Fellowship, and specifically Angel Tree, with Christian books for prisoners’ children this Christmas. It’s too late to donate for this year, but if you’d like to donate a book for next year, or a hundred books, or 500 books, let us know. Your books will bring encouragement to someone missing their mum or dad, and sow seeds that may even spring up to eternal life. 🙂

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Last Newsletter of 2019!

Hello and welcome to the last Dernier Publishing newsletter of 2019!

This is such a busy time of year, so I will be try to be brief, and will concentrate on the two things we really want – 1. to get our Christmas presents done, and 2. to remember what Christmas is really all about. 🙂

Holding on to Jesus

In this crazy season, we are all rushed, but why not take the time this advent to give a book to read or to read a story, with the children on your heart, and discuss the issues of faith that come up? Most of our books have discussion questions online that you can print off. You know what: there will never be a better time than now. The only right time is now. Don’t put it off. Every day matters.

You may have to be inventive. You could read a book via Skype if you can’t be present in person. Or send the audiobook and listen to the same chapter so you can discuss it after.

With the proliferation of Christmas Eve boxes, how about including a Christian book, if reading a story through advent isn’t possible? The Birthday Shoes or Living in Hope would be brilliant choices, or Beech Bank Girls, Christmas is Coming.

We need to bring Christ into Christmas ourselves! Where there’s a will there’s a way. If you would like to give books to children who attend a church group you run, and finance is an issue, let me know and I’ll do my best to help.

Christmas Presents

All our stories are available as paperbacks (from any bookstore), kindle books (instantly downloadable from Amazon to read on any digital device) and audiobooks (various, including Audible, iTunes and Google Play).

Here are the links to some of our paperback books on our website (feel free to check them out here then buy from your Christian bookshop):

Beech Bank Girls, Every Girl Has A Story

Beech Bank Girls, A Time Remembered

Beech Bank Girls, Christmas is Coming

Beech Bank Girls, Making a Difference

All these books are fun, inspirational reads for 10-14-year-old girls.

Deepest Darkness. Gripping story full of adventure. Perfect for children who get anxious.

I Want to Be an Airline Pilot

Living in Hope

Under the Tamarind Tree

Exciting stories set in Rwanda – great for family reading, and a wonderful reminder that material possessions aren’t the most important things in life!

The Birthday Shoes. Fun adventure story for 7-10s who might be wondering what a Christian really is.

Revenge of the Flying Carpet. A good choice for 10-14s who care about justice.

Rebecca and Jade: Choices. For teenage girls. Relationships are important to us all, and the choices we make affect our lives…

The Only Way. Gripping, brilliantly written story. Perfect choice for boys and girls with little or no church background, or who are finding church boring. For 10-14s-ish.

A New Me. Engaging story for 10-13s. With no church background, Jess finds new life in a new place.

All Dernier Publishing Christian books for young people

All our books are equally suitable for church or non-church children. Any other questions, or if you’d like quantity discounts, please don’t hesitate to contact me – I always love to hear from you. 🙂

I probably won’t be in touch again until the new year (gulp!), so let me take this opportunity to thank you for your support for Dernier over this last year. Your prayers and support have made an eternal difference to children all over the world, as they find Christ and are strengthened in their faith.

May the joy of our precious Saviour, our ever-present Emmanuel, fill your hearts this Christmas!

Love to you all in Christ,

Janet

P.S. I’ll bring you all the plans we have for next year in our next newsletter, when we’re all a bit less busy. 🙂

P.P.S. Please share with anyone you know who might be interested – the more children we can reach with the good news through story, the better. Thank you!

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New Titles

We are going to be bringing you new books next year! 🙂 As soon as we have the contracts in place we will give you more details. Please pray for us as we make a start on these new additions to our list. Thank you so much for your support. Oh, and one of them features a dog, as requested! You will love him, I promise. 🙂

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Books to Scotland!

These books are on their way to Scotland! We hope and pray they will be well used and loved. 🙂

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Review of Deepest Darkness

Sarah and her son George sent in this lovely review of Deepest Darkness:

“We both give the book 5 stars. I liked the simple way God was introduced and discussed. In our family, three of us want to go to church and talk about God often. George and my husband are unsure so he found he could relate to Abi’s uncertainty. I also liked the short chapters – we read about 5 an evening.

George is obsessed with animals so he loved all the references to bears and cougars etc. He liked the idea of it and the thought of spending every day on a beach. He also liked the way each chapter left you wanting to read on to find out what happened to Abi’s dad.

We read it together. George isn’t a particularly confident reader so I read to him. I thought the content was perfect especially for George who doesn’t like to be told what to believe and is very sure that he is still undecided about God. It was a brilliant way to open up the topic in conversation and for him to just be able to ponder on it and see how he felt.

We looked at the discussion questions [on the website], but we found we created our own discussions along the way which were similar to the questions.

We very much enjoyed spending this time together. With two younger siblings, we don’t have many opportunities to spend time just the two of us. His brother and sister would play in their rooms whilst George and I read – something we never get to do. It was just lovely to spend one on one time together as well as to be able to talk about issues that often upset him.” – Sarah H

Thank you Sarah and George for this lovely review.

Buy this book for a child on your heart. Don’t let your children miss out. Sow seeds while you can – who knows what fruit might grow?

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Christmas Gifts

Have you started to think about Christmas presents? We all know books make the perfect gift!

If you have girls 10-14 to buy for, take a look at Eleanor Watkins’ Beech Bank Girls. There are four books in the series to keep every reader happy for hours. And be inspired in their faith…

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Award!

We’re in the Together magazine (for everyone involved in the Christian book trade). Here’s proof we are award-winning publishers! ?

Thanks to Torch Trust for the award, and for everyone who helped make this possible.

We are delighted to still be helping with files and audio, to help make our books accessible to children with sight loss.

Every child is precious!

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International Day of Children

Today is International Children’s Day, but some don’t have story books. We’re doing what we can, but it feels like a drop in the ocean. Every child should have books to read! Books bring life and fun – they help with education, and inspire readers to dream and see what’s possible.

Please pray for all the children, all over the world, who are reading our books today, and for those we could be reaching, that they will be able to get our books into their hands. Thank you!

If you’d like to help, we have a donate button. Or if you are visiting a school/children’s home in a place where you suspect there may not be many books, why not take a pack with you? They will be so appreciated, and will go on to benefit generations to come.

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Under the Tamarind Tree for Children of Prisoners

Please pray for the 500 children who will receive copies of Under the Tamarind Tree this Christmas, from a parent in prison. Angel Tree (part of Prison Fellowship) organise this wonderful initiative, with help from prison chaplains and volunteers.

Thank you for praying!

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Black Friday

Dernier Publishing is not going to be participating in Black Friday this year, so if you want to buy books from this website or from Christian bookshops, you can do it any time between now and Christmas, knowing the price will be the same. Feel free to share this post, and thank you for your custom – may all the children you buy books for be blessed!

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Books for Christmas

Don’t forget to check out our catalogue for books for your children this Christmas!

Dernier Publishing Online Catalogue

Christian books change lives, not just give enjoyment for a few days. Not saying it’s not great to have fun and celebrate – but balance is good!

Happy shopping!

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Deepest Darkness Review

“The message of freedom and light was clear. This is a really well written and entertaining story.” Katie read this with her 11-year-old son. Want one? Order here, or buy from your local Christian bookshop. Don’t leave it – time passes so quickly!

Deepest Darkness book from Dernier Publishing

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Readers with Sight Loss

Sadly, not all children have story books available to them, for lots of different reasons. We are proud to work with Torch Trust to make our books available in Braille, large and giant print, and on audio. (We even got an award for it!) So if you know children in the UK with sight loss, get in touch – they can enjoy all Dernier stories.

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Books for Education Bridge Africa

Today we packed up a box of books for children in Kenya who don’t have story books. Thanks to all who have donated books! 50 books will soon be on their way for the #readtolead project, for children in desperately poor schools. Please pray they will be well loved and used!

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Box of Books for African Children in Need

#readtolead

Dernier Publishing is delighted to be part of the #readtolead project with Education Bridge Africa. Education is a way out of poverty for many children, and reading is a big part of that (as well as being fun!). If you’ve been receiving our newsletter for a while, you will have seen some of the moving stories and photos of children in desperately poor circumstances, so happy to receive our books. For some of them, this will be the first story book they have ever held.

Recently Dr Loise took a selection of our books to the Joy Town School for children living with disabilities in Thika. (You may have heard about Thika, and its famous flame trees!)

These children were apparently delighted to receive our books – do pray for them (and for others who have received our books. These children (below) are from Rwanda).

We are sending a Christmas Box to Education Bridge Africa. If you would like to be part of this wonderful ministry, please find thedonate button and give whatever you wish via PayPal (you don’t need a PayPal account to use this service – you can pay by debit or credit card if you prefer). Every £5 you donate will buy one more book to put in the box. I hope to send a full box next week, so please send in your donations by the end of the week (Friday 8^th), or they might not make it for Christmas.

Thank you!

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Writing for Young People

Do you write Christian novels for young people? Looking to take your writing to the next level?

Janet Wilson, founder of Dernier Publishing, is running an online course called “Easy but Brilliant Ways to Make Your Story Fun” for £1 until 16th December.

You can check it out here!

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October News

Good News!

Now Halloween is over (phew!), the nights are drawing in, and like it or not, we can’t help but start thinking about Christmas. The real message of Jesus coming to us is such good news (light in the darkness!), but it’s not always easy to share it with the younger generation, is it? We know we need to, and we want to – it’s just finding a way!

There is so much confusion among our young people, all of them desperate to be loved, to have value and for their lives to matter. They are looking to find acceptance and peace in so many ways that will never truly fulfill.

We know Jesus is the answer!

In my parents’ day, most children went to Sunday School and were given a book prize in the summer, so they took the good news home with them. Times have changed, but the need for taking the good news home hasn’t. And these days Christmas is an accepted time to give gifts.

We would love to help you give books away as gifts this Christmas, to children your church has links with – schools, uniformed organisations, clubs and Sunday School. Perhaps even to children who use your church building for their carol concert? Or who sing in the choir? Think what a difference the books could make! They have the potential to touch whole families! If you’d like to read testimonies of how our books have touched lives, there are plenty here.

If you would like to give away books, but can’t afford to buy them full price, please email me. If we can possibly help you, we will – no matter how many books you are looking for. Getting the message of the good news into children’s hands is why we exist!

We hear of too many horror stories concerning young people. Maybe with your gift you can turn lives around this Christmas. The good news of Jesus is too good to keep to ourselves. The time to sow seeds is now – who knows what fruit will grow!

Christian Resources Exhibition

It was great to see our books on sale at the Christian Resources Exhibition in Surrey last month. Thanks to Dave Lock and Barry Mockford from bookshops in Streatham and Staines, who took them. Great stuff!

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Christian Bookshops

Christian bookshops do a great job, shining like lights on the High Street. If you have one near you, do support them. Some of them will have special offers for Christmas, and you can buy calendars, cards, music and gifts as well as books. If you’re anywhere near Streatham, pop in to see Dave and the crew at Manna Bookshop – you will find all our books on their shelves! If you see our books anywhere, please send in your photos – we’d love to see them. 🙂

#readtolead

Recently Dr Loise took a selection of our books to the Joy Town School for children living with disabilities in Thika, Kenya. (You may have heard about Thika, and its famous flame trees!)

These children were apparently delighted to receive our books – do pray for them.

We are sending a Christmas Box of books to Education Bridge Africa. If you would like to be part of this wonderful ministry, please find the donate button and give whatever you wish via PayPal (you don’t need a PayPal account to use this service – you can pay by debit or credit card if you prefer). Every £5 you donate will buy one more book to put in the box. I hope to send a full box next week, so please send in your donations by the end of the week (Friday 8^th), or they might not make it for Christmas.

Thank you!

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Exciting News

Next year we are going to start working on a brand new project, bringing out ‘early readers’ for 6-8s. These books will be shorter chapter books than our current range, with larger print and black and white illustrations – a bridge between picture books and our books for 8-11s.

They will all be fun, relevant stories, with Christian themes.

Please pray for this exciting new development!

‘

Audiobooks

Don’t forget all our books are on audio, and you can buy them as gifts – all you need is the email address of the person you want to give the book to. These are perfect for children who prefer to listen than read. They can download the book and listen at their leisure on their phone/tablet or any digital device. Simply type the title of the book you are looking for into any search engine and click on the link to buy. The instructions will guide you through.

Sharing

If you have enjoyed one of our books, would you be kind enough to share it on Instagram, in a Facebook group you belong to, or another social media platform? So many Christian parents are desperate for good Christian books for their children, but don’t know where to find them. We have easy share icons on our website to help make it easy. Thank you. 🙂

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Contact Us

If you have any ideas, questions or comments about any of our books, please don’t hesitate to contact us at any time. We are here to serve you and the children on your heart.

With thanks for your ongoing support,

Janet

P.S. Don’t forget to email me about books to give to your schools and clubs! And do feel free to share this newsletter with your friends. 🙂

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Sold Out

We have sold out of the first print run of The City Kid. There are mixed feelings – it’s great that all these books are now out in the world, but we’re sorry you can no longer order this inspiring, thought-provoking book for teens.

We will bring it out again with a new cover at some stage – possibly in 2021… we will keep you informed. Please do keep praying for the books, wherever they are in the world, that they will continue to be enjoyed, and change lives.

If you have any ideas for a new cover, let us know in the comments below!

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Jesus, Light of the World

Halloween is over for another year. Now it’s time to begin preparations for Christmas, when we celebrate Jesus, the Light of the World, coming to live among us. Let’s let our lights shine!

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Christian Bookshops

The world can be a dark place for Christians. Christian bookshops do a great job, shining like lights on the High Street! How far do you have to go to your local bookshop? If you’re anywhere near Streatham, pop in to see Dave and the crew at Manna Bookshop – they sell all our books!

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Books Are Treats!

If you’d like Christian books to give to trick or treaters, contact us. 🙂 We’d love to help! #halloweenisapproaching

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Christian Resources Exhibition

It was great to see our books being sold at the Christian Resources Exhibition in Surrey last week! Thanks to Dave Lock and Barry Mockford from bookshops in Streatham and Staines, who took them. Great stuff! #supportchristianbookshops #dernierpublishing #christianbooksforkids

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Gifts for Special People

Could you afford to buy a Christian book every month/term for your godchild, grandchild, or your Sunday School group?

If you write a verse in each one at the front, your special people will have an amazing stack of encouragement for the future as well as the present!

Keep sowing those seeds – you never know which will grow.

(Contact us for church/school discounts.)

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Children in Thika

Dernier Publishing is delighted to be part of the #readtolead project with Education Bridge Africa. Education is a way out of poverty for many children… and they are desperate for books to read.

A while ago we sent several boxes books for children in need in Kenya. Some have reached the Joy Town School for children living with disabilities in Thika. (You may have heard about Thika, and its famous flame trees!)

Children with disabilities reading books from Dernier Publishing

These children were so delighted to receive books to read!

If you would like to be part of this amazing ministry, sending Christian books to children in need, please find the DONATE button and give whatever you wish via PayPal. This is how it works: you buy the books at a discount, and we will pay for and organise the shipping, to Education Bridge Africa.

You can find the DONATE button here.

Why do we send books to schools in Kenya? Some schools are well resourced, but some are desperate for reading material for children. We work with Education Bridge Africa and their #readtolead project, which aims to make sure the most disadvantaged children have access to story books. Christian books are especially well received, as there is a strong Christian culture in Kenya. We work with Dr Loise Gichuhi from the University of Nairobi.

Please help this project! We would love to send more books, and need your financial help but if you can’t help right now, please pray that the books will be well used and loved, and will touch many hearts and lives.

Thank you!

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Books Going into the Wide World

These Christian books were ordered today… they will be off to Surrey shortly, in the mail. Who will read them? Will they get passed on? How many lives will they touch? So many seeds in one small package! 🙂

#christianbooksforkids #everychildisprecious #dernierpublishing #booksmakegreatgifts #bookschangelives #sodoesprayer

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Books to Bookshop

This selection of books was ordered by Soham Books in Cambridgeshire… Wouldn’t it be great to know where they end up!

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World Mental Health Day

#worldmentalhealthday If you know a child who suffers from anxiety, Deepest Darkness is a lovely book which has helped many 8-11s. Get your copy here.

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Dyslexia Awareness Week

It’s dyslexia awareness week!

We realised the importance of dyslexia friendly books a while ago, so our last few Dernier Publishing releases have had a brilliant, spacious new look inside, with wider margins, better spacing and a dyslexia friendly font.

What do you think? We’re really proud to be inclusive! #dernierpublishing #christianbooksforkids #christianbooksforteens #dyslexiafriendly #inclusive

This is the inside text for A New Me. Really easy to read!

And this is the fabulous cover!

Our other dyslexia-friendly titles include Revenge of the Flying Carpet, Rebecca and Jade: Choices and The City Kid.

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Let Your Light Shine

Thanks so much for praying for Dernier Publishing, and for your support. We are in a fight and we are grateful not to be fighting alone. We have an enemy who doesn’t want children to be inspired in their faith, to hear the good news of Jesus, to read stories of children just like them who find light in the darkness, who win through struggles by prayer and faith and have fun adventures! But we have to spread the good news to the new generation. If we don’t, who will? Some might not hear if we don’t tell them.

Last week I took part in The Turning, going out on to the streets with Christians from churches all over London, sharing the good news of Jesus. Most people weren’t interested, but some people, it seemed, were just waiting to hear! They were like ripe fruit, waiting to be plucked from the tree. A lady I was asked to follow up came to church with me on Sunday!

There is a hunger for the good news. Not everyone wants to hear, of course. So we need to spread our nets far and wide, to catch as many as possible. Could you help spread out the net? Could you buy books for your school, youth club, church children, uniformed organisation, family and friends? Could you give books away at Light Parties at the end of the month? You never know what seeds might grow from your gift. (If you need lots of books, contact me and we’ll do what we can to help with the cost.)

Prisoners’ Children

500 copies of Under the Tamarind Tree will go to prisoners’ children this Christmas, via Angel Tree (part of Prison Fellowship)! We are so delighted to be helping with this project, thanks to a generous donor. How many children will be touched by the message? Maybe all of them, by the grace of God! Maybe some of the books will be read over and over again. Maybe some of the books will be read by several members of the family. Perhaps parents/carers will read them to their children…

You can read more about the book here, so you can pray with greater clarity (and while there, why not buy a copy for a child you know, to encourage them, too?).

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Christian Resources Together

We had a great time at the Christian Resources Together trade event last month! Thank you if you prayed for us. Author Eleanor Watkins helped us celebrate the 10^th birthday of the Beech Bank Girls books!

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We had some good conversations with Christian booksellers; we are so grateful to them for stocking our books in their shops, helping us reach children all over the UK. Saturday 5^th October is Christian Bookshop Day… if you live anywhere near a bookshop, do support them – they do a great job in the community.

And we won an award! It was such a surprise and honour to be presented with the special ‘Accessible and Inclusion Award’ by Julia Hyde, CEO of Torch Trust, and David Shepherd, Resources Manager. It has been a pleasure to work with them. Now all our titles are available through Torch Trust as large print, giant print, Braille and on audio, so children with sight loss can enjoy our books in the way most suited to them. How brilliant is that? 🙂

Each book, wherever it goes, and in whatever format, is like a seed – some might be eaten by birds, some grow among thorns or in shallow soil… but some might grow up to bear 30, 60 or even 100 times what was sown!

Be part of it. Don’t let the ones you love miss out. Hallowe’en is nearly here, celebrating all that is dark. Let’s let our light shine!

Together in His Service,

Janet

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Collection

Books waiting to be collected for Angel Tree today: final destination will be prisoners’ children. How wonderful is that! 🙂

500 copies of this lovely book are waiting in these boxes. Seeds ready to be sown. You can read more about the book here.

Please pray!

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Angel Tree

We are getting ready to send 500 copies of Under the Tamarind Tree to Angel Tree (part of the Prison Fellowship), thanks to a generous supporter.

These books will go to prisoners’ children at Christmas, as a gift from their parent. How lovely is that?

Please pray for the children who will receive them. And if you’d like one the same for a child on your heart (perhaps one going through a tough time?), you can buy one here.

We can all be bearers of good news.

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Official Photos from CRT and the Award!

Hi, Janet here – that’s me in the middle (below), receiving our award!

Every year Christian publishers and retailers get together for the Christian Resources Together retreat. At this event we have an exhibition, worship together, eat together, share news… and have an awards evening. Here are some of the official photos, of the Dernier stand, where we celebrated the 10th birthday of the Beech Bank Girls, and of our ‘Accessible and Inclusive’ award from Torch Trust. Thanks to Julia Hyde and David Shepherd from Torch for the amazing award, and everyone we chatted to at CRT. It’s a wonderful thing to be involved in! (Thanks to Dave Lock for the images.)

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Christian Resources Together

Hello, Janet here! The last few days I have been at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, for the annual Christian Resources retreat.

As well as celebrating the 10th birthday of the first of the Beech Bank Girls books, we were surprised and delighted to receive this wonderful award for helping to get books into the hands of children with sight loss from Torch Trust! Thank you Torch Trust!

I am so grateful for my sight, and am glad to have been able to have read our books for young ‘readers’ with sight loss. We pass on all our files to Torch Trust so all our titles can be made available to children (or adults!) as large print books, Braille books, and audiobooks. It’s been brilliant to work together… no doubt about it, we can do so much more together than apart!

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Beech Bank Girls are Ten Years Old!

Janet Wilson is off to the Christian Resources Together retreat next week with Dernier Publishing, and is looking forward to meeting up with talented author Eleanor Watkins and celebrating the 10th birthday of the Beech Bank Girls!

🙂 Can you believe it’s ten years since these girls began sharing their stories with us? The book (and the sequels) are every bit as relevant today as they were when they were new. You can buy the paperback, the kindle version, or get the stories on audio. You can even get them in Croatian!

Don’t let your girls miss out….

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Online Writing Course

Some of you will know that Janet Wilson, founder of Dernier Publishing, set up a resource (Write for a Reason) for new writers of novels for children, in response to requests for help. Registration for the updated course, which starts on 16th September, is now open, so we’re sharing it here, in case it’s of interest to you. 🙂

Inspire the children you love with your stories!

If you enjoy creative writing, you will love the

Write for a Reason Academy

If you write/want to write novels for children/teens, and want to make them the best they can be, you will enjoy this ten week, step-by-step online course, wherever you are in the world.

Write for a Reason was set up by publisher Janet Wilson in response to requests for help from new writers. She has run courses before, but this is the most comprehensive to date, and will cover everything you need to write a successful novel for children/teens from a Christian perspective.

By the end of the course you will be buzzing with exciting ways to breathe life into your stories… PLUS you will have a complete story plan for your next novel!

If you are writing to share the good news of Jesus in some way, your novel will already be extra special, because it has eternal value, but the better written it is, the more children will read and enjoy it!

Isn’t that what we want?

In the parable of the talents, the servants who received the gifts had to put them to work… the servant who buried his talent was in trouble – don’t let that be you!

Most writers struggle on alone hoping (doubting?) their writing is good enough, but, as with any field of life, a little bit of training, support and encouragement can work wonders. Would someone called to be a counsellor start counselling without first getting some training?

Get some training to help you with your story structure!
Get confident in your ability to write!
Overcome the overwhelm!
Be the novelist you dream of being!
Inspire the children you love with your stories!

The next course will begin on 16th September.
Registration closes on 12th September.

“Thank you for taking the time to educate those of us who feel we have a story just waiting to erupt from the depths of our souls.”~ Leilanie

This course is for you if you:

Are new (or new-ish) to writing novels for children/teens…
Or want to make a start.
Love creative writing.
Have a message to share.
Want to learn some new ideas to help make your stories the best they can be.
Are willing to put time in to learn your craft (around 3-4 hours a week over the next ten weeks)

This course is NOT for you if:

You are happy with your novel the way it is.
You can’t justify the expense right now.
You can’t make time to spend on a course.
You are familiar with everything we will be looking at in the course (see below)

“The course has come to an end all too soon. I thank God for you and may he keep this group of writers inspired and enabled in this work for His glory.” – Pam

Janet Wilson, founder of Dernier Publishing and Write for a Reason

Hello! My name is Janet Wilson. I’m a mum, grandma and founder of Dernier Publishing (we publish Christian books for children) and Write for a Reason.

In my role as a publisher, I have learnt a few things about great novels. I would love to pass on my knowledge to you, to encourage and equip you make your stories the very best they can be.

I am a Christian, and this course reflects that, but whatever your beliefs, you will find plenty to help you in your own writing journey.

When you sign up for this course, you will gain IMMEDIATE access to the pre-course runway, which I’ve designed to help you get ready for the weeks ahead (including some fun writing prompts!).

I hope you will join me in the Write for a Reason Academy. I would count it a privilege to help you in the next step of your writing journey.

In this course you will learn everything you need to write a successful novel for children/teens.

The Pre-Course Runway
Purpose: To get ready for the weeks ahead.

Module One: Reaching Your Target Audience
Purpose: To know who you are writing for, and get to know their world.

Module Two: Creating Your Protagonist
Purpose: To create a protagonist (main character) your readers will love and be inspired by.

Module Three: Creating Secondary Characters
Purpose: To create engaging secondary characters.

Module Four: A Look at Narrative Voice
Purpose: To consider all the options and choose your narrative voice for your next story.

Module Five: Weaving in Your Theme
Purpose: To know what your theme is, and how to make your “message” work in the context of your story.

Module Six: Creating the Perfect Setting
Purpose: To choose a great setting for your story, and build your fictional world.

Module Seven: Gripping Beginnings
Purpose: To have a gripping beginning for your story, to draw your readers in.

Module Eight: Satisfying Endings
Purpose: To work out a satisfactory conclusion for your story, that you readers will love.

Module Nine: Conflicts and Resolutions
Purpose: Work out all the terrible things that are going to happen to your characters between your beginning and ending.

Module Ten: Your Complete Story Plan
Purpose: To have a complete story plan in your hands, ready to begin writing your novel in full.

N.B. Each module will include a mixture of teaching and practical assignments. And they’re fun! Yay!

It’s time to invest in your writing!
Click HERE to join the course.

Write for a Reason Academy

Cost: £297.00

Ten teaching modules
Writing exercises and assignments
Membership in a closed Facebook group
Janet will visit the facebook group, to discuss the material and answer questions

Monthly Payment Package:

£49.00 x 6

All the course material is the same, whether you choose the ‘monthly pay’ or ‘pay full price now’ option
The choice is yours!

Let’s begin!

Come on in and join us! GUARANTEE

If you start the Write for a Reason Academy and find it’s not for you by the end of Module Three (as long as you have had a go at the set assignments), let me know, and I will refund your course fees. “How can they put their trust in Him if they have not heard of Him? And how can they hear of Him unless someone tells them?”Romans 10:14 (NLV)

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE COURSE

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Angel Tree

These two fabulous titles will be going to prisoners’ children via Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree programme this Christmas. Delighted to be part of this brilliant project, keeping prisoners connected with their children, and knowing the kiddies have a Christian book to read.

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Birthdays, Book Clubs, Beech Bank Girls and more!

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 17^th and 18^th 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.

Beech Bank Girls Books from Dernier Publishing

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!

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Books Make the Best Gifts

Why not keep a stock of Christian books to give away to your children’s friends and friends’ children? You could be giving much more than a book – you could be planting seeds for eternal life.

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Christian Audiobooks for Children

Did you download and listen to any or our Christian audiobooks for children over the summer? If you did, we’d love to hear from you!

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Let’s Pray!

Children all over the world will have attended camps and clubs run by missions and churches over the summer months. Let’s pray that seeds sown will bear fruit! 🙂

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Book: £5.99 | Faith: Priceless

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It’s Raining!

It’s raining! What about a good book? How about this one? You can get the kindle version or the audiobook instantly, or order from the website for the next wet week!

Don’t let the children you love miss out on this fun story. Jesus said Let the children come to me. Giving yours a book like this is doing exactly that.

This book touches on themes of God knowing best; friendship; caring for each other; answered prayer, and racial harmony. Plus there’s buried treasure, and Joshua gets to go to The Village of the Dead Snake!

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The Birthday Shoes on Audio

Want to encourage your girls to keep walking with Jesus? Try this audio book! Available all over the web, including on Google Play for a once-only purchase, if you’re not looking for a subscription.

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Raining?

It’s getting towards the end of the summer holidays, and the evenings are drawing in. Time for some family reading! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to spend some time together with a fun novel, and the added bonus of spiritual input. Seize the day! The days pass so fast…

If you have 8-11s, try this one…

What about this one for 9-12s?

Revenge of the Flying Carpet front cover

And there are lots more to choose from! 🙂

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Beech Bank Girls

Our girls are facing all sorts of pressures from every direction.

We brought out the great fun, brilliantly written Beech Bank Girls books for you to give to all the 10-14-year-old girls in your life, so you can encourage and inspire them in their faith.

The first book in the series (Beech Bank Girls, Every Girl Has a Story) sensitively covers the following issues (do you know a girl going through any of these?):

Bullying
Divorce and separation
Temptation to steal
Trouble with step-families
Doubts about faith
Death of a pet
Chronic illness in the family.

As you see, the Beech Bank Girls go through all the same pressures and trials many girls face – and have a lot of fun together, too – this book includes a miracle and a party, plus Annie joins the BBGs and finds faith for herself!

If you are looking for a book to build your girls’ faith, or show girls who have no church background that it’s great to be a Christian, this is the one for you. These girls are normal and fun!

“Really enjoyed it and found it helpful at the same time.” – Claire

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Something is Eating My Beans! – All the Latest News from Dernier Publishing in One Place

Dear Friends,

It’s that time again! Here I am with the monthly round up of news.

Something is eating my beans!

For the first time ever, I’m growing beans in our garden. The plants are luscious, with all that sun we had and then the rain… but something is eating all the new little beans!

I need to do something to stop the creepy crawlies stealing my crop!

It made me think. Plants can look strong, but how can we be sure our children/the children on our hearts will always be strong in their faith?

We can’t, of course. Only the Lord can touch hearts, change lives.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a part to play. The Lord has chosen to use us! Scripture tells us we must talk about the Lord and His ways with our children as we walk along the road of life together (Deut. 6:7, 11:19).

This isn’t an optional suggestion, and the consequences of not doing so aren’t worth thinking about. Of course we want our children to be happy, healthy and to do well in life, but above all else, when we belong to God, we want them to know Jesus. Nothing else compares, does it?

Evangelism has to start at home. There are many ways to bring faith into conversations, and you will want to read the Bible and pray together when you can…

And there’s another easy and entertaining way to bring up issues of faith – fun, relevant Christian stories are brilliant conversation starters!

If your children don’t like reading, you can read to them, listen to the stories on audio, or buy kindle ebooks so they can read them on their phone/tablet/laptop with the free app.

You can start today! Here’s what you need to do:

1. Choose your books and order, either here or from your local Christian bookshop.
2. Read with your children, or if that’s not possible, send your gift with the message, “I saw this and thought of you.”
3. Discuss the story in person, on the phone, skype, whatsapp, instant message service…. or by letter. Where there’s a will there’s a way!

Pray and see what the Lord will do! We have had some amazing comments from parents/grandparents/carers/teachers and children who have read our books – it’s not an exaggeration to say our books have changed lives.

Whether “your children” are family, friends, church kids, pupils or friends and neighbours’ children, every one deserves to have someone talk to them about Jesus.

How will they know if no one tells them? But think what could happen if YOU DO?

Audiobooks

Know a young person who prefers to listen than read? Want them to be taking in good stuff? You can find all our audiobooks now, all over the web, ready for you to download for all your 8-16+! Pretty much wherever you usually buy your audiobooks, you can get ours – iTunes, Audible… or if you don’t want to buy a subscription, Google Play. 🙂 You can buy the books for yourself, or as a gift for anyone with an email address. Just download with the free app, press play and enjoy as many times as you like!

Sharing the Wealth

A pastor’s wife I know through social media, Claire, gave her daughter A New Me to read. This is what she said, “Just a bit of encouragement for you – my daughter has just finished reading this book… and LOVED it! She said she wished she’d picked it up as soon as I gave it to her.” Get this book from our website or from Christian bookshops. Don’t delay – time passes too quickly when they’re growing up!

The main character in this book, Jess, is from a broken home because her dad drinks, is threatened with eviction because her mum can’t pay the rent, goes to live with an elderly aunt in a village (with her mum and brother), is bullied at school, foils a cockfighting gang, and becomes a Christian! Why not buy a copy for a child you know who is going through a tough time?

Email Marketing

The time has come for Dernier to move into email marketing. We have always supported Christian bookshops, and will continue to do so, but we also need to realise that we can reach so many more children by moving into new ways of publicising our books. So I’ve set up a new email list, separate from this newsletter. If you would like to be part of it (you will receive weekly-ish emails instead of once a month) please click here. It’s exciting because I know we will be able to reach a wider audience this way, but I do hope those of you who can will continue to buy your books from bookshops – they are a great witness, and serve the community in a much more personal way than email ever can. May the Lord continue to bless the outreach of bookshops. We love them!

Summer Reading

So now it’s time to get your summer reading books, whether you buy paperbacks, audiobooks or kindle books. We have books suitable for ages from 8-16+. Time to choose!

I hope you all have a wonderful summer, enjoy lots of good books and watch your children grow in their faith!

Janet

P.S. Please join us in praying for all the children who will be reading Christian books this summer (not just ours!). May many hearts be touched, seeds sown and lives changed.

P.P.S. This is the link to sign up to receive regular emails from us, to keep you informed, and give you offers and updates.

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Try Before You Buy!

Try before you buy! Get your FREE copy of The Treasure Hunt ebook (pdf) when you join our email list. Read this exciting story (featuring four children from a church youth club who solve a mystery) with your family and discuss the issues it raises. Perfect for building faith together! Or just read it on your own and enjoy.

Don’t miss out, click this link, download the book straight away and start reading at bedtime tonight!

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Summer Journey Ahead?

If your kids get bored on long journeys, download one of our audiobooks! Search for any of our titles on Audible, iTunes, Scribd, Google Play (if you want a one off instead of a subscription) and enjoy together! Christian books are a great way to bring up good faith conversations, however you enjoy them. (You can, of course, get a good old fashioned paperback if you prefer. :-))

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Hottest Day of the Year!

Kids hot and bored? You can buy Dernier books on kindle and give them to your kids NOW! USE the weather and inspire them in their faith – read together, discuss the issues and multiply the good stuff! Try this one!

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London’s Gone on Audiobook

More of our books are now out as audiobooks, ready for kids who are not so keen on reading, or for all the family to listen to on that long journey!

London’s Gone is the latest to hit the virtual shelves. This gripping drama for 10+ is available from your usual subscription service (eg Audible, iTunes)… or Google Play for a once-only purchase.

Don’t miss out on this fab opportunity to share your faith with your kids, and talk about the issues.

Reading Christian stories together is a great way to fulfill Scripture’s commands to talk about the Lord and his ways as you walk along in life together.

Choose your book from our website
Follow the link to go to the audiobook, or put the paperback in your basket
Read (or listen) and enjoy discussing the story together!

Start here.

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Audiobooks!

Do your kids love to listen to stuff on their phones? But there are so many voices out there! Want to give them an exciting Christian novel to listen to? Another of our books is now on audio! This gripping novel (I Want to Be an Airline Pilot) takes place in rural Rwanda – you will love it too, so why not listen together on a car journey? You can download it from Google Play here. Or get it from audible, iTunes or from your usual audiobook platform.

Don’t leave your children’s spiritual health to chance. Do what you can now. You won’t regret it if you do, but you might regret it if you don’t.

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Girls For God

If your 10-14-year-old girls love listening to stuff on their phones and you want them to keep walking with God, you can now get all these fun Christian books on audio from Google Play. We can’t change lives ourselves, but we still need to reach out to encourage and inspire! #dernierpublishing #funbooks

Don’t let your girls miss out. The stakes are too high.

Search Beech Bank Girls audio books on your phone

2. Scroll down until you find the Google Play option of the book you want to download.

3. Click and buy!

You will now have instant access and your girls will be good to go this evening!

Oh, and 4. Pray for the Holy Spirit to move. 🙂 Who knows what He might do through your gift?

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Don’t Delay

More and more church kids are walking away from faith, and many young people are growing up never hearing the good news of Jesus. There are so many conflicting voices out there, leading young people in all sorts of different directions.

We publish fun, exciting, relevant, faith-building novels for you to share with the children and teens in your life, to encourage and inspire them in their faith.

Our stories are more than great stories – they change lives. You can make a difference, an eternal difference, by reading them with the children in your life. If you can’t do that, don’t let them miss out – send the books and pray.

Who knows what the Lord might do? But don’t delay. The time to sow seeds is now, because tomorrow might be too late.

Here’s what you need to do.

Choose books for the children in your life

2. Enjoy the books together

3. Pray!

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More Audiobooks for Girls!

We are delighted to bring you the second of the Beech Bank Girls books in audio format, which is brilliant for girls who love their phones!

This is the second title in the series, available from google play. Girls can now listen to this fun, relevant Christian book on their phone!

OR you can download from many different audiobook subscription services, such as Audible, iTunes, scribd and audiobooks.com. Simply put the title in the search, and up it will come!

AND/OR you can buy the paperback if your girls love to read. 🙂

However you get it, make sure you do – our girls seriously need encouragement. All sorts of voices are coming at our precious girls from all sides – these fun stories tackle issues from a Christian perspective. “My 13 year-old granddaughter was riveted, and read through all four books about the Beech Bank Girls in the half term week that she stayed with me,” said one Granny, concerned for the spiritual welfare of her granddaughter. Church girls are dropping out of church, and many are growing up never knowing that the Lord is there, He cares, He answers prayer, and he can help us, whatever sort of trouble we get into!

So buy your copy today – paperback or audiobook. You need to sow seeds if you want to reap a harvest.

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Clive is Back!

Clive Lewis (author of The City Kid) is back from his trip to Uganda. Thanks for your prayers! Clive says, “I returned from Uganda last week and enjoyed great fellowship with family, friends and Christian brothers and sisters.” Clive and his team took lots of books with them – please pray they will have a good impact on readers. This picture is of Clive with the vicar of the parish of Obiya in northern Uganda which Clive’s parish supports. While there, Clive talked to Dickens Zziwa from SU Uganda, who was the recipient of a box of The City Kid on a previous visit. Clive says, “He [Dickens] said that last year’s supply had long since dispersed, and he added encouraging words about the impact of The City Kid on some young people.” Great news indeed! If you or someone you know is going on a mission trip this summer, would you buy books to take along? Please contact us for quantity discounts. Always glad to help!

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Books Going Out Today

More fun, faith-building Dernier books are winging their way out into the world today! Here they are, boxed up and ready to go! If you don’t want your children to miss out, order your books today. We’d love to help you. We love our books, but what we really care about is the children who read them. – Janet

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All the News in One Place!

Sharing Truth

In Deuteronomy 11, the Lord, through Moses, urges the people, concerning his commandments: “Fix them in your hearts and minds. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

This isn’t an “if you like” suggestion. The words are so familiar that they can wash over us. But it seems to me that it is deadly serious.

So many voices are coming at our children from every side. We are so busy. They have other interests. But they are being seduced away…

Could there be anything more important than to help them understand the good news, and what it means for them and us? And I’m not just talking about our own children – we are called to go into all the world… Jesus doesn’t want any of the little ones to perish.

I wish I’d had Dernier books and the discussion questions back when my children were small, and I was a youth club leader. I prayed with them and read Bible stories, but we could have gone so much deeper sharing life stories, discussing issues… and so much more, as we walked along the road together.

Don’t miss out – buy a book today for a child on your heart, download the discussion questions and get talking.

Jo read Rebecca and Jade: Choices at the same time as her fifteen-year-old daughter. She said, “I thought Becca’s journey to finding her own relationship with Jesus was brilliantly covered. The book also gave me a good opportunity to open up the subject of abortion with Abi and we had a really good chat.”

If you want to fulfill your responsibility and draw closer to your children, 1. choose your book, 2. download the questions and 3. get started!

Discussion Questions

Most of our books have online discussion questions now. The latest addition is London’s Gone (with grateful thanks to Brenda Lord for her wisdom and help). Beech Bank Girls questions coming up next! Please pray as we finish up this task, because it takes a lot of careful thought. We need the questions to be suitable for use in a school/non-church environment as well as in Christian families, so we need to be sensitive, as well as making sure we’re covering the vital points in each story.

Caroline used the Deepest Darkness discussion questions when reading the book with her nine-year-old son, Jaidon. She said, “They started some good questions and I was able to answer with examples from the book in a way that helped my son understand and relate to real life. He suffers from low self-esteem and anxieties. I was able to use Abi’s experiences of overcoming her fears, to try to get him to see how he might overcome or build upon small steps like Abi did.”

Selection of books for 8-11s from Dernier Publishing

Good, isn’t it? Let’s pray for Jaidon, and for so many other children like him, who are reading our books today, and finding a gem of truth to draw them closer to God with, or without support.

Prayer Support

Prayer is so vital! When I first set up Dernier, I used to have a wonderful group of people who prayed for Dernier and the work we do, but when I moved house (seven years ago now!), it gradually fizzled out. My fault entirely. I’d really, really like to set up a new email prayer group. Prayer is so key to all we do for the children – there’s a battle on, and we need to fight in numbers! If you’d like to be a prayer supporter, I would be so grateful. Just reply to this email and I’ll set up a new group.

Audio Books

This is so exciting! All our books have now been uploaded to various distributors of audio books, and one by one they should become available within the next 40 days to download online all over the world. This is brilliant, because they can reach a whole new audience – children who don’t enjoy reading, and for families to listen to together. Kids love to listen to stuff on their phones – what could be better than a Christian book? 🙂

At the time of writing, only A New Me, A Pennyworth of Peppermints, Revenge of the Flying Carpet and Beech Bank Girls, Every Girl Has A Story are available, but this list will grow!

There are two ways you can buy the audiobooks:

1. You can join a subscription programme, such as Amazon’s audible programme. Here’s the link to join (with A New Me in your free month’s trial).

2. You can buy the book alone from Google Play. For example, here’s the link to A Pennyworth of Peppermints.

If you try one out, please do leave a review!

Are You Running a Club or Camp?

If your church is running a camp or club this summer and you’d like to give away books, email me for quantity discounts (just reply to this email). Books keep the message going after the event is over – and whole families might read them. We know of one instance where a mum started going to church after reading her son’s book… and became a Christian after hearing the preacher.

The Dernier Website

I’m in the process of re-vamping the website – would you mind taking a look? Is there anything you like or don’t like? Or that doesn’t work on your mobile or tablet? Anything I’m missing that would make it simpler for people to choose and buy books? Thanks in advance for your help. 🙂 You don’t have to buy from our website, of course! You can buy all our books from Christian bookshops, so if you have one in your area, do support them.

I think that’s it for this month! Thanks so much for all your support and encouragement. Do pass on this letter to a friend – we need to keep “enlarging the place of our tent”. 🙂

Have a wonderful July,

Janet

P.S. In case you’re in a hurry and have skimmed, here are the essentials:

* Some of our books are now available on audio for your kids to listen to on their phones

* You can download discussion questions from our website to help you and your children get the most from the books

* Reply to this email if you’d like to be a Dernier prayer supporter

* Contact me for quantity discounts of books for summer clubs and camps.

And if you were forwarded this from a friend, you can subscribe here. 🙂

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Read to Lead

Morning, Janet here. Last year we started sending boxes of books to Kenya, for children in slum schools on the outskirts of Nairobi. This is such a heart-warming picture – I was told the children were so excited to have story books – this little chap just couldn’t wait to get reading!

One day I’d love to go… in the meantime, please do pray for all the children who read our books all over the world, whether they are privileged or destitute, seven years old or seventeen, at school, in refugee camps, or at home, with single parents, no parents, or children of a father with four wives. Every child is precious. Every single one.

If you’d like to send a box of books to Nairobi, we can do it on your behalf – we work with an organisation called Education Bridge Africa. £250 would cover the cost for as many books as we can fit in a 5kg box (including shipping). That’s around 40-50 books (some are lighter than others). Let me know if you want to be a hero for children like these – reading will help them out of poverty, and reading Christian books will help to build their faith.

Janet

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Christian Camps Coming Up!

Let’s pray for the preparations of summer camps and clubs starting soon! They can be such a vital time in the lives of young people – fun and good news are a fabulous combination! If your church or organisation is planning an event, and you would like to give your children books to keep feeding them with good news once it’s over, please get in touch with us. We’d love to help if we can.

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Do You Write?

Hello, Janet here, founder of Dernier Publishing. I just wanted to drop in and let you know that as well as working on books, I also run a resource for Christians who write novels for children. If you’d like to join us, we’d love to have you! You can hop on over to the Write for a Reason website by clicking on this link.

Hope to see you over there! – Janet

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More books going out!

These books for 8-11s are off to a bookshop. We don’t know who will buy them and who will read them… but we can pray for them! Will you join us? So many issues are bombarding our children. Let’s be the bearer of good news! If we can help you with books for the children on your heart, please contact us. Or you can buy all these books for yourself – simply go to the ‘Books for 8-11s’ tab and add the books you want to your basket! Couldn’t be easier… but you could change the world for your readers.

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Beech Bank Girls on Audio

You don’t have to join a subscription programme to listen to Beech Bank Girls, Every Girl Has A Story. You can download it direct from Google Play and enjoy it forever!

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Faith-building Books on Audio

Do you have children who don’t enjoy reading, but love listening to a story? Want to build their faith? You do not have to subscribe to a monthly programme to benefit from audio books – you can download whichever book you like, when you like, from Google Play.

Here’s the link to buy A Pennyworth of Peppermints on audio for just £7.99.

A Pennyworth of Peppermints audio book for 8-11s

The book is set in Weymouth and Portland (Dorset) and begins when Ben, Sidney and Vera find a message in a bottle – little dreaming of the adventures this will lead to. The main characters are at the end of their primary school education during the 1914-18 war.

You can also use author Mary’s discussion questions, to build your relationship with your children, and build your own faith at the same time!

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More Christian Audio Books for Kids

Yipppeee! You know we exist to unite concerned Christians with life-changing stories for the 8-16s on their hearts? Well, we have three more inspiring books now on audio, so you can share these great stories with the young people in your life on a car journey, or even buy one for someone in a different country! Simply choose the one you want, search for it online and download! Be the bearer of good news.

A New Me Christian audio book for 10-12s

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Books to New Homes

These books are off to Coventry! May they be much read and loved.

We love uniting concerned Christians with life-changing stories to share with the children on their hearts.

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Sowing Seeds

Christian books can change lives. Sometimes the seeds take a long time to grow. Sometimes they fall in thorns and weeds, or on the path, or on rocky ground. So we need to keep sowing, and never give up. Maybe, one day, some of the seeds you have sown will grow into mighty OAKS.

So keep sowing those seeds! Why not buy a book today, for a child on your heart? This seed could be the one that changes a life.

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Praying for Persecuted Christians

Prayer is an enormous privilege, and a huge responsibility – here’s a resource to help your young people to pray!

Millions of Christians worldwide suffer persecution for their belief in Jesus Christ. As well as our help, they need our prayers.

‘Praying for Persecuted Christians’ offers 30 carefully chosen, biblical prayer pointers suitable for family, group, or private prayers, with useful scripture references.

Originally designed for teens, they have become a trusted prayer guide for adults, too!

Our heavenly Father is pleased to answer our requests – he is just waiting for us to ask. If we are obedient, we really can make a difference – an eternal difference, to thousands, maybe millions of people.

What a breathtaking privilege… and an awesome responsibility.

Buy copies for yourself, your church, your youth club. FREE shipping to UK addresses (please contact us for overseas orders).

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More Books To Uganda!

Author of The City Kid, Clive Lewis, is off to Uganda again soon, with a mission team. Clive’s church made an appeal for books to take to children who so badly need them, and raised the amazing total of £440! The team will be sharing the weight of the books between them for the journey.

Clive says, “Thank you for your prayers. Our party will have three intensive days with our mission partners in the Gulu area (north Uganda) and during that time I plan to hand over the books to the diocesan youth organiser. He will be thrilled, I have no doubt.”

Please pray for Clive, his wife, Florence, and the mission team; for the diocesan youth organiser, and for the children who will receive the books! (The photo above is of Clive during a previous visit to Uganda.)

If you’re off on a mission trip in the summer, could you take books with you for a school, children’s home, camp or church? Or organise to raise funds for someone else?

Please contact us if we can help with quantity discounts, and even a few freebies!

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John Ouma is off to Uganda

John Ouma (aka The City Kid) is getting packed up ready for his flight to Uganda next month. Ultimate destination: a school library! Please pray this story will be well used, and readers will be touched by its message of forgiveness, life and hope in Christ.

Do you know anyone off on a ministry trip this summer? Could they take some books for church kids, or a school or children’s home? Please contact us – we would be delighted to help!

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Exam Prayer

Last week GCSEs started, and SATs began. A levels will be starting soon, along with college/uni exams. It can be such a stressful time. We had such good feedback from the exam prayer we put on social media, we have now added a bit of design and linked to it below as a downloadable file. Please feel free to print it out and pray it with your children/young people, and or give it to them to take to school/college.

The Lord is a very present help in times of trouble!

Click here to download the prayer as a pdf:

Exam prayer Download

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Do you have children in your church?

Not all churches now have children, sadly. If yours does, would you like to give out some of our leaflets? Not all children read, but almost all love to have a story read to them!

Grandparents and godparents might like to buy books, as well as Sunday School teachers and children’s workers. Send us a message if we can help!

Is it time for your church to go back to giving books as gifts?

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CLC Distribution

Shout out to CLC who distribute our Christian children’s books to bookshops all over the UK! These books are on their way to the CLC warehouse in Chester, today. They may have been ordered for a prizegiving, at a church or school. 🙂

If your church has children (sadly, not all do), would you mention our books to your children’s worker or minister, as ideas for prizes? Even children who don’t love reading themselves usually love being read to! And there’s nothing quite like a fun story to start a conversation about faith…

Please feel free to contact us if you have any queries. We’d love to help you get fun Christian books into the hands of the children/teens on your heart.

Janet (Janet Wilson, Dernier Publishing)

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Visit to Hillsong Kids

Hello, Janet Wilson here. I visited central London yesterday – Hillsong Kids (7-11s), to give a talk about books!

It was a delight to meet so many keen readers. I got to talk to some of the children individually as well as give a talk to the whole group. Several of them buzzed around me after my talk, thrilled and amazed to find books with Christian characters just like them (and two asked me if I’d publish the books they are writing!). Please pray the children will be strengthened in their faith through good Christian books, as well as the teaching they receive week by week when they’re together.

I suspect way more children than we think would read Christian books if they had the opportunity… and still more would love their parents to read the stories to them. Let’s pray for parents to take up the challenge – and that other family members and church family will buy them for those that can’t afford it.

Our children so badly need the encouragement to keep walking with God.

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Prayer for Exams and Tests

The exam season is on us once again… let’s pray for all our children and young people doing tests and exams. It can be such a stressful time. But the Lord can give strength!

Below is a prayer you can pray with your children to pray when exams loom – why not print it out for them?

If you have a child on your heart you’d like prayer for, please add their name, or a nickname, in the comments below. Isn’t it the most amazing thing that we can all pray for each other? 🙂 We are all family. x

Janet (Janet Wilson, founder of Dernier Publishing)

Dear Father God,

Thank you that you came to give me life, and life in all its fullness. May your name be honoured in my life.

When I get anxious, help me to remember you hold all things in your hand, even the sparrows. When my heart beats fast, help me to remember that I matter to you. When I feel alone, help me to remember you have promised to be with me, always. When I feel crushed inside, please help me to look up to you, not at my worries. When fear grips, please help me to take one step at a time, knowing your Holy Spirit is right there beside me.

Help me to trust you because you care for me. Help me to remember your constant, never-ending love. Help me to remember that whatever the outcome of my exams, you have a plan for my life, and your presence will guide me. Help me to see that my value is not dependent on my exam results, but on my worth to you.

You came to give me abundant life! Please help me to experience that today, in all I do. You came to give peace, so I choose to rest in you. You came to bring joy! May I know your joy in my heart today, because I am your child, and nothing compares with that. Thank you for giving me the gift of faith. Thank you for being my friend, my Saviour, my hope and my light.

There is no other God like you. May your name by honoured in my life.

In Jesus’ name, Amen

J. Wilson 2019

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Going to Hillsong!

Hi, Janet Wilson here, founder of Dernier Publishing. On Sunday I have the privilege of speaking to the Hillsong London Kids’ 7-11s about Christian books! I have a little talk planned, and aim to encourage them to be brave, because children are as important to God as adults. Please pray for a good response! I’ll try to remember to take some photos to show you next week. 🙂

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New Homes for Books

Books all boxed up and ready to go out into the world!

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First Audio Book for Sale!

We are absolutely delighted to let you know that our first audio book is now for sale on Audible and iTunes! So now, if your child doesn’t love reading, or you want to listen together on a journey, you can still enjoy this story!

This is a great book to bring up themes of justice and mercy, judgement and forgiveness. The Bible teaches us we need to talk to our children about the Lord in our everyday lives – when we sit and walk, and wherever we go. Now you can listen to this book in your home or car, and join in with the discussion questions afterwards!

audio cover Revenge of the Flying Carpet

Here’s a bit about the book: Paul hates his sister – she has been awful to him ever since he can remember, and when he finds a flying carpet in his gran’s loft he seeks revenge… but gets a lot more than he bargained for. Justice, judgement, forgiveness, mercy… Paul sees them all as he and Trinity travel through time and space. But then comes something completely unexpected… You can find the book here.

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Audio Books Approved!

Exciting news! We have just heard that our first audio book has been approved by Amazon/Audible and iTunes! It will be on sale in “2-3 days”. Be sure we will let you know!

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Beech Bank Girls Reviews

We love it when readers take the time to send in their reviews. Thank you, Mary, for sending us your lovely reviews of Beech Bank Girls, Making a Difference, and Beech Bank Girls, Christmas is Coming!. We are so glad you enjoyed the stories, and hope other people will enjoy reading your reviews. 🙂

“I really like Beech Bank Girls. It is about six teenage friends, Annie, Willow, Rachel, Amber, and Chloe. Holly is on holiday!
In this book, a new girl, Madalina comes to school. She is a Roma gypsy and will only stay for a while, and so she does not have to wear school uniform.
The Beech Bank Girls make friends with Madalina, and give her their spare school uniforms. Madalina tells them that she will have to go home, but in the end the headmaster gives her something that means she will go back to her parents but will come back to school again!
Also there is a fun night at Beech Bank. There is a film on at Beech Bank, and lots of the girls cry during it. Willow meets one of the presenters called Jay, and she likes him. After the film the girls came up with the idea to give Madalina school uniform. The other girls all join in with it.
Another thing that happens in this book is that Amber’s sister, Kim comes home from university and says that she won’t go back. She had met a boy on the internet and he wanted her to show him round her university. In the end she decides not to meet up with him. He sends loads of emails, and says he will try to find her. Amber tells Kim about God, and she decides to believe in Him and is generally much happier.
I really like all that happens in this book especially how they are kind to Madalina. I think you should read it, and I think that you will enjoy it too!

I really like Beech Bank Girls. It is about six teenage friends, Annie, Willow, Rachel, Holly, Amber, and Chloe.
In this book, Holly comes back from holiday and her father’s business goes bankrupt. Amber is rather mean to Holly and says, “Welcome to the new world.” Because Holly has always been rather rich. In the end they both say sorry. (At the same time!)
Rachel’s sister, Ruth, thinks that she is too fat. So Ruth goes on a diet and does not eat really anything. She faints at Beech Bank after missing lunch, and is taken to hospital. Rachel talks with Ruth, and Ruth says she did not enjoy her diet, and goes back to normal eating.
Annie has an accident on a sledge, and hurts her foot. The sky gets dark and the girls can’t find their way back. All of the girls’ fathers come and find them.
I really like all that happens in this book especially how they all work together. I think you should read it, and I think that you will enjoy it too!” – Mary

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Happy Easter

We would like to take this opportunity, as we take a few days’ break to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, to thank everyone who has supported and prayed for Dernier. We appreciate you all.

We would like to wish you a very Happy Easter. May you experience the love of God in a deeper way than ever before.

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