Dernier Publishing

All our books in one neat collage! Who do you know who needs a bit of encouragement? All these books are currently in stock!

Planning BIG, Taking Small Steps

Don’t laugh, but I have taken up running. Actually, feel free to laugh if you wish :-). For a long time I’ve been realising the need to do something to increase my level of fitness. Finally, at the end of July, I bit the bullet and downloaded a ‘Couch to 5K’ app on my smart phone, which takes total beginners through a nine week running programme. The idea is to start small (60 seconds running, 90 seconds walking) for half an hour, and gradually build it up. I’ve reached Week Seven and am running 25 minutes in one go. That would have been impossible a few weeks ago! How did I get this far? One small step at a time.

Planning Big

Running 5k seems like a huge goal, but that’s OK- I’ll give it my best shot! I have big goals/dreams for Dernier, too. I’d like to see Christian fiction for children available to every child in a way that is accessible to them – stories that point to Jesus. Paperbacks, ebooks, kindle books, spoken books, books in other languages, large print books, books in every corner of the word… we are making small steps towards all of these. At times the task seems overwhelming. But we press on, one step at a time, because we have a God for whom nothing is impossible, who loves all the little children of the world, and loves the older children, too.

Stepping Together

Getting books into the hands of young people wouldn’t be possible without you taking some of the steps with us. Whatever your involvement with Dernier, thank you. Because we are working together, children in rural schools in Africa desperate for books have something inspirational to read. Because we are working together, 500 prisoners’ children in the UK will receive one of our books this Christmas. Because we are working together, we have a new book out next month with the potential to touch many young lives. Because we are working together, our books are in bookshops all over the UK. Because of you we have a website that is accessible to people in most countries of the world at the click of a button. Because of you, some of our books are in schools, libraries, churches and homes and maybe children’s hands right now.

There’s almost nothing that can’t be done by taking small steps. Not all of them are easy, and some take a lot of courage, sheer hard work and headaches along the way. But as we step out together, we can shoot for the moon. And if we don’t make it quite that far, at least we’ll have sown some seeds along the way. 🙂

Books for rural schools in Africa

Dr Loise Gichuhi from Education Bridge Africa told me via Skype, “We delivered some of the books to a rural village school today. The books fitted the 13 to 17 ages very well. Very excited.” The school have been requesting story books for a whole year. Not all the children are good readers, so some of the books we might consider to be a bit young for them will actually come in useful. And perhaps, like Shema in I Want to Be an Airline Pilot, readers will be assured they have a Father in heaven who cares for them.

Take Another Step!

At the moment I’m working on updating the website, building up relationships with retailers, making final touches to the new book and working to make it known, updating all our book files so we can go print on demand all over the world, finishing audio versions of the books (nearly there!), planning my talk for Christ Church… and soon I will be taking a week off! 🙂

Here are some steps you could take:

1. Buy a book for a child you know from your local Christian bookshop or from our website.
2. Donate a book to an African school. We have a donate button on our website now, so you buy a book and we will send it on your behalf – more info here.
3. Give out leaflets We have new ones! Contact me if you’d like to give leaflets out in your church or school
4. Forward this newsletter to your minister/a friend/youth leader
5. Send in a review of one of our books
6. Pray for Dernier and all the children who read our books.

Thank you! Every step forward is a step in the right direction!

Christian Resources Together

Last week I was in Derbyshire, at the Christian Resources Together event, meeting up with other people who work in the Christian book trade. It’s always a good time with authors, publishers, distributors and retailers, showcasing our books, worshipping together, and deepening friendships over meals and drinks. I made some potentially good contacts, including interest from a publishing house in the States… if anything transpires I will be sure to let you know! I also had a lovely chat with J John’s wife, Killy, and gave her a copy of The Birthday Shoes for their grandaughter! You can buy your own copy here. 🙂

Speaking

I’m speaking at Christ Church Orpington on Saturday September 29^th, at a Ladies Breakfast. If you’d like to book a ticket, I’m sure they’d be able to fit you in! Love to see you there. There’s nothing on their website yet, so contact me if you’d like to come.

Kindle books

All our books are now available on the kindle platform. Just type in the book title in the Amazon search, and you will find the one you are looking for. Enjoy!

A New Me

This fab new book will be launched next month. Author Roy, and his wife, Jane, have got some great ideas for a launch – will give you more details next month!

In the meantime, thanks once again for walking with us, and praying for us. God will make a way where there seems to be no way.

Grace and peace to you all,

Janet

Perspective

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter, celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus for us; his death and resurrection.

Recently I’ve been thinking about perspective. Allow me to share a couple of photos with you.

I took this first photo at Hever Castle in Kent – it looks like the Easter bunny is taking over the Easter world! The old castle hardly gets a look in, although you can just about see it in the background. In this second photo, taken on a recent visit to Hong Kong, many skyscrapers tower above St John’s Cathedral. But it just depends on which angle you are looking at it…

Like so many things in life, there is more than one perspective to Easter. It looked like all was lost on Good Friday, but it turned out to be the pivotal point of our salvation, as Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. Is the Easter bunny really taking over the world? You might think so from what we see in the shops. But we know better. Will secularism triumph over the church? Not a chance!

Praise God for the truth we know from his word, that the Lord will continue to build His church, and even the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Sometimes we need to hold on to the right perspective, when other things seem to loom in size. Do you sometimes look at things through the wrong lens? I know I do. We have such a small number of books! But they can change lives. That’s more than the Easter bunny can do – the only thing he can do is expand waistlines!

Packets of Seeds

Recently a kind supporter sent me her church newsletter, which contained this book review for Living in Hope:

“I really enjoyed this book because it was simple but written cleverly. I think it is a great idea and it is really gripping. Shema is my favourite character because he finds planes really fascinating. The creativeness of the children is really good and it seems really realistic. The characters are very detailed and are described in depth. The title suggests this is about hope but it is actually about a village called Hope.

I really like this book and I’d recommend you to read it.” – Alfie.

It’s always so encouraging to receive reviews of our books – makes all the hard work worthwhile. Rarely will a child say in a review that they were touched in their spirit by a book, though, or that the characters were good examples to them. I guess it’s a bit unrealistic to expect it… still, we hope and pray that children nonetheless will not only enjoy the stories, but be impacted by our books in a way that is unseen. Perhaps the story will be a favourite, turned to again and again, passed on to a friend or sibling, or will impact the whole family if it’s read out loud. Sometimes a parent will tell us how a book has touched a young reader, which is always great to hear.

It’s also possible that a story will be completely forgotten! All we do know is that it is up to us to “plant the seeds”. Well, actually, I guess as much as anything it’s up to you to buy the “packets of seeds” from us! Together we can make a difference. If there’s any way we can help you reach the children on your heart, please let us know. We will always try to help.

Living in Hope is all about a group of children who are learning to walk by faith. One is tricked into becoming a domestic slave, so it also highlights an important issue from a Christian perspective. And the story of the prodigal child is lived out as Freda is rescued and returns home. Lots of seeds there. You can buy the book direct from our website, from Christian bookshops, or any online bookstore.

A New Me

Our next book, A New Me, for 9-12s, will be released later this year. We have been working hard on the manuscript, and hope to put the final first chapter on our website soon. Please pray for each of the steps of publication – editing, typesetting, proof-reading, printing; for the cover design, for distribution, for sales and marketing. And especially please pray it will reach the children who need to hear the message of new life. Author Roy Jones has written an exciting and relevant story – now it’s up to us all to do the very best we can to get it into as many hands as possible. Thank you for your prayers! If you would like to read a pre-production copy to review, all offers kindly received (we are always looking for reviews from young people for back covers!).

Prizes and Presentations

Does your church or school need books for prizes or presentations at the end of term? Please pass on our info to the person who does the buying – one of our books might be just what they are looking for. Please contact us for quantity discounts.

And once more, grace and peace to you this month of April showers – may they be showers of blessing!

Janet

P.S. If you would like to receive newsletters by email, just let me know!

Newsletter January 2018

Lego Cathedral

Though we are many, we are one body. We all know that, of course! On a recent visit to Chester, we visited the cathedral. They are building a Lego model of the cathedral, one brick at a time! Visitors can buy a brick for £1: all proceeds are for restoration projects. Seeing the model growing reminded me that we are all one body, though we have different jobs to do. Some of the Lego bricks are tiny, and some won’t even be seen once the model is complete, but each have their place! It’s good to remember that we are all in the body of Christ together – all with different tasks to do, but each one of us essential. As we start a new year, I’d like to thank you all for all you have done to help get Christian books into the hands of young people all over the world. It’s a joint effort, and I couldn’t do it without you. 🙂

Trinity School in Sevenoaks

Thanks to supporter Trish for this photo! Wonderful to see our books in the Trinity School library (Sevenoaks). Could you offer books to give to a local school? They may be read many times by many young people over several years. What a great way to sow seeds. Some might fall on the path, of course, some in thorns and some among weeds, but some may grow in good soil. It might take a bit of courage to ask, but don’t let your fear stop you!

P.S. A local primary school teacher is using A Pennyworth of Peppermints with her book club. 🙂

Book Party

If you have friends and family who love books, let me know if would you like to hold a book party. It takes a bit of organisation, but if you love having people round it’s definitely worth it for a bit of fun, to get books into kids’ hands and to earn yourself a bit of commission. 🙂 Please contact me for more details.

Where Do they Go?

Most of the time we have no idea what happens to our books after they leave us in a box or a jiffy bag. Who reads them? We just don’t know! Occasionally, however, we get some feedback to keep us encouraged.

Author Mary has given some books to a family to take back to Taiwan with them. I think that’s a first. When I first started Dernier Publishing, getting books to children abroad seemed like an impossible dream. It’s truly amazing to see what the Lord has done. Thank you so much for your help, for being here, for supporting, for buying books and for your encouragement.

Books are also shortly off to The Gambia and Tanzania, and even a few to China. Please pray for all these books – no, I don’t mean that, please pray for the readers of the books! Some will be adults, as in some countries there are few Christian books around and they are greatly valued. Who knows what the Lord will do? 🙂

Here’s something else totally unexpected: at a recent Torch Trust holiday for people with sight loss, a book group listened to I Want to Be an Airline Pilot on audio, and each person was given an additional copy of the book in the format that suited their needs best (Braille, large print or CD). We were told that:

“Although this was a book for youngsters even the adults got a lot out of it. They found that it brought back memories of when they were young and had dreams like the person [Shema] in the book. It got to the stage where some read the book 2 or 3 times and each time got something different out of it and said it was an enjoyable book.”

Thank you so much to all of you who pray for us – your prayers are making a difference in the most unexpected of places!

Audio, Kindle, Epubs, Print on Demand and Books in Greek

Please pray for all these time-consuming projects. All are on the way, but all are taking longer than anticipated. Prayers appreciated.

Lent Resource for Young People

Looking for a Lent Resource for your young people? Lent starts on Wednesday 14^th February. Not long now! Revenge of the Flying Carpet is a great book to use as a Lent Resource for 10-14s-ish, as the subjects of justice, forgiveness, judgement and mercy are on our minds. There are thought-provoking Book Group Questions in the actual book, and more detailed questions online for leaders to us (with grateful thanks to Brenda Lord for her expert help).

Is this something you could do as a family? Read the book together, then discuss the questions? Or suggest it to your congregation? One of the most pressing needs is for church young people to be discipled. It’s so easy to let the time slip by in lots of busy projects, but passing your faith on to your children is something only you can do, and you only have a short time. Don’t delay, start today! You can order the book from our website, or from your local Christian bookshop.

New Book!

Finally, exciting news – we have a new book on the way, which will be released, God willing, in the late summer. It’s called A New Me and charts the progress of Jess, who finds Jesus following a series of events. Author Roy Jones lives in Kent, where the story is set. We will be bringing you more news bit by bit.

But for now I’ve said enough!

Apologies for being a bit late, but I hope you all have a very happy new year, full of hope, joy and peace.

Janet