“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!
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.
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:
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!
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! 🙂
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. 🙂
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.
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):
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.
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 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!
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. 🙂
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.
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…
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.
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.
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!
“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!
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.
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!
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 8th),
or they might not make it for Christmas.
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.
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!
‘
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
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, 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 8th), or they might not make it for Christmas.
Thank you!
‘
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. 🙂
‘
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. 🙂
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!
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!
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!
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
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!)
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.
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.
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! 🙂
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.
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…
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 10th birthday of the Beech Bank Girls books!
‘
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 5th 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!
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.
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.)
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!
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!
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. 🙂
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!
“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 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
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)
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.
I hope you all had a
good summer. I spent a week in Minehead with my sister, who I haven’t
been away with since we went to Austria for a week over thirty years
ago! Where does time go? 🙂
August has been a
quiet month for Dernier, for sales – please pray that schools,
churches and parents everywhere will see what a fantastic tool novels
are for building faith. We so long to know our books are out there,
changing lives. Well, of course, it’s the Lord who changes lives, but
he uses our words to touch people, whether spoken or written. 🙂
Now our books are
also in audio, we have a new way to reach children who don’t enjoy
reading. Please pass on the good news to any of your friends who
have children. Maybe you could even buy an audio book for a
child/family you know? Even children who love reading might also
enjoy listening to a story while on the bus or train on their way to
school!
Why not try out Mystery in the Snow? All you need is the recipient’s email address, and the book is sent to them to download. They can read it on their phone – or a parent’s phone… or a tablet, laptop of computer.
Schools
Some children are
already back at school – some will be heading out this week. Let’s
pray for all those who love the Lord, that they will be strengthened
in their faith and hold on to what they know to be true.
This term we plan to start a campaign to Christian-based primary schools, encouraging them to use our books for their children as class readers, and to make them available in their libraries. Please pray for us – for good relationships with schools, and that many will take up our books. Children from every faith and none attend church schools, so library books have the potential to be read by children from all walks of life. Perhaps the Lord will use them to bring light in dark places, to open eyes and to turn children’s hearts to Him.
Book Club
Teacher Denise (Mrs Angell!) will once more be running a book club for children in Years Five and Six this term, at a local primary school. Denise says, “Every Monday lunchtime, we looked forward to gathering to read together and share our own experiences or predictions that came to mind as we followed the character’s adventure. Being a faith-linked book club, there were a number of books representing the main faiths of the world although of the six books we read all bar onewas a Dernier book! The children made the decision! I asked which had been their favourite and there was a draw between A Pennyworth of Peppermints and The Birthday Shoes as they enjoyed the mystery of them. Between the books, we must have covered many worries that the children have or will face and I pray that they feel equipped to know that they can pray for the Lord’s help and thank Him for the good times too. I pray that my book club has planted seeds of Christian faith that will germinate and grow at some time.
We’ll start with a new group of
pupils in September so please pray that they will also be touched by
these wonderful books.”
None of the children
has to go to this lunch time club – they choose to go.
Isn’t it great that they love reading and discussing Christian books?
Please pray for Denise as she once again brings stories to children,
almost all of whom are not from church families.
Prisoners’
Children
Angel Tree will once
again be sending out some of our books to prisoners’ children this
year at Christmas (apologies for using the Christmas word in
September!). We don’t yet know which titles. Please pray the right
books will go to the right children, and that the Lord will use them
to open hearts. Please pray, too, for the children who have received
our books as gifts over the last three years – maybe the books are
still on a shelf… maybe they are much loved… the Lord knows!
Let’s pray that the Lord will draw these precious children to
himself, each one a prisoner’s child through not fault of their own.
Christian
Resources Together
Our annual trade event will take place on September 17th and 18th at the Hayes Christian Conference Centre in Derbyshire. I will be there with all our books! It’s a lovely couple of days, spending time with retailers from Christian bookshops and other retailers. We love supporting the bookshops – they do a fabulous job.
The Beech Bank Girls are Ten Years Old!
The Beech Bank Girls books are ten years old this month! It’s incredible to think that these stories have been building girls up in their faith for ten years now, and are still touching girls’ hearts today with their message of life, laughter and faith in Jesus. Congratulations to author Eleanor Watkins, who has written such enduring, heart-warming, fun and inspirational novels for our girls. May the stories carry on bearing much fruit for many years to come!
It is totally awesome to look back and see how far Dernier has come, by the Lord’s grace, in these last ten years. Please keep praying for us – who knows what the Lord might do in the next ten? 🙂 Exciting, isn’t it! Please keep buying books – we need you to get the books into readers’ hands.
Right, I’d better let you go and get ready for the new term, or perhaps your holiday, or just back to your usual day to day activities. Whatever you do, may you know the Lord’s presence with you.
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.
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! 🙂
