Have you seen the slogan Live, Love, Laugh? It seems to be the in-thing to have inspirational thoughts like this on plaques, calendars, pictures and ornaments.
If you could give anything to the ones you love this Christmas, wouldn’t you love to give the gifts of life, love and laughter? It’s what God our Father gave us, that first Christmas! As humans, there’s a limit to what we can do, but we can give the ones we love a Christian bookthat will help them find true and eternal love, life and laughter. We can’t force people to come to Jesus, neither would we want to, but we can show them the way through a Christian book.
Better than a Star Wars razor, I think. Or chocolate, or even an i-phone! Just think – true life, eternal love andjoy that knows no limits. That has to be the best present ever. 🙂
Interview!
I was interviewed by Matt Dick of UCB Radio last week about our new book, Revenge of the Flying Carpet. It was a bit last minute, as someone had suddenly dropped out and they had a hole to fill in their schedule! Please don’t feel obliged, but this is the link if you’d like to listen(it will be on the server for another couple of weeks).The interview begins around the 2:15:00 mark. :-) Love sharing the Dernier story!
You can buy Revenge of the Flying Carpetfrom your local Christian bookstore or direct from our websiteto encourage and inspire your 10-14s.
Big Book Party
I held a Big Book Party at my home on 2nd December. Thanks to those who came and made it such fun!
We played games, like how many books can you carry on your head? (that was hilarious!) . . . can you find the buried book treasure on the map? . . . and how many words can you make from the letters of Revenge of the Flying Carpet, and of course sold some books! If you would like to hold a book party (and earn some commission), or come to the next book party at my house, let me know.
Panic, Panic!
Still need presents? Or would love to give your young people’s class/group a last minute gift? As I said recently at the launch of Revenge of the Flying Carpet, all our books are published with two main aims – to be excellent reads, and to share something of the good news of Jesus.
If you need help choosing books for Christmas, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Always glad to help! And if you would love to give a gift of books but don’t have the resources, let me know – perhaps together we can find a way.
If you can’t get to your local Christian bookshop this Christmas, you can still buy books direct from our website. If you use the coupon code NEWSLETTER, 10% will be taken off your order, with our thanks for all your supportover the last year! Valid only until this Friday (15th December) so don’t delay, order today!
Dear Lord Jesus, we pray for all the children who will read our books this Christmas. We don’t know who they all are, or know their circumstances and their hearts, but you do, and we know you love them. We pray that each one will find life, love and joy in abundance. Amen!
And that’s all for this year! I wish you all a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. May your life be a blessing to everyone you come into contact with!
Janet
P.S. Here’s the link to our online catalogue if you’d like a quiet browse with a coffee. Feel free to choose your books then buy them elsewhere – we love it when people support bookshops. We’re just glad the books are getting out there into children’s hands. 🙂
Welcome to the Dernier Publishing Newsletter, November 2017
Launch of the Flying Carpet!
We had a great time at the launch of Revenge of the Flying Carpet. Thanks to all who came, young and old! It was great to celebrate the arrival of this book, and you can now buy as many copies as you like until we sell out . . . which might not be too long, as we’ve already sold almost half the original print run!
The story is really as much about forgiveness as revenge. Forgiveness is an issue for all of us, because we have all let others down, and we all have people in our lives who have done us wrong. I bet if I gave you a moment you could come up someone you have hurt . . . and someone who you would really like to see getting their comeuppance for what they have done to you!
Paul, the lad on the cover, has been bullied by his sister as long as he can remember. When he finds a magic carpet in his gran’s loft, he thinks it’s going to get him revenge, but he gets a lot more than he bargains for . . . and there’s a twist in the tale. 🙂
Do you know a young person who either cares about the injustice in this world, or who has been bullied or abused? They need to read this book.
You can get your copy here or from your local Christian bookshop. The book is really for 10-14s, but you might like it, too, so do buy one and pass it on! If you have known the freedom that forgiveness brings, you will want to share it.
To give you a bit of a taste, here’s an extract from the first chapter (which I read at the launch):
The one bad thing about flying off on a magic carpet was that I had to go with my twin sister. She got the celebrity name – Trinity. I got the boring name – Paul. And that just about sums up the whole of the fifteen years of our lives.
I never thought about revenge, though, until I found the carpet.
Trinity has always had the best of everything. She has thousands of friends – well OK, that’s an exaggeration, but loads anyway, and she always gets everything she wants. If she asks and doesn’t get it the first time, she wheedles it out of whoever another way, either sulking or making them feel guilty till they give in.
Mostly she helps herself without asking. If there’s only one bag of crisps, she’ll have it. She’s supposed to be attractive (according to most people), gets A*s for everything, and is captain of the school netball team. So yeah, my sister . . .
Anyway, I wanted to tell you about the flying carpet – well, it was the size of a large rug really, but magic rug doesn’t sound quite right. It was both stunning from an art point of view, and for once in my life . . . hang on, I’m going too fast. Let me start by telling you how I found it.
It was in our gran’s loft when we cleared out her house (she had to move into an old people’s apartment with a lift because she can’t manage the stairs any more). I had to pass all the stuff down the rickety loft ladder to Trinity, because it was dirty up there and I always got the worst jobs. A bare light bulb hardly lit up the cobwebs, let alone the stuff beneath. It was freezing up there (it was February), and the rafters were so low I kept bumping my head.
I nearly died when I first climbed up and saw how much dusty old junk was up there. You should have seen it, piled up high, stretching away to every corner. My heart sank. What a way to spend a Saturday. We’d be here forever, I thought. I wondered where I was going to start, but it was obvious really – I had to start right there by the ladder because I couldn’t get any further in.
I’ll cut out telling you about all the tedious shifting and Trinity’s non-stop moaning and whining, and get straight to the point.
The carpet was rolled up against the far brick wall, held up between a pile of chairs and a stack of boxes. I could see the blue wool on the edges, long before I could get to it – even then there was something about it. It was the only decent thing in the entire loft. Everything else was broken or rusty or mouldy or faded. I know this is going to sound strange, but the carpet seemed to be waiting there for me to find it. Even before I touched it, I felt kind of drawn towards it.
When I eventually did reach it, ages later, I unrolled the edge and stroked it. Tingles went up and down my spine. It was thick, warm, and attractive in an arty kind of way, with a soft pile, like real wool, in shades of blue. Even then, I knew there was more to it than just the way it looked and felt. It was as if it wanted to tell me or show me something.
I was still feeling a bit wow, I can’t believe this, when Trinity yelled up the loft ladder. “What’s the matter slowmo?” Well I didn’t want her to know about the carpet, so I quickly rolled it back up, slid it behind some tins of old paint, and carried on shoving the stuff down to her, you know the sort of things – old lampshades, battered old suitcases, and a whole mass of decorating stuff that must have been our granddad’s a very long time ago.
I waited for my moment. As soon as Trinity wandered off, moaning about her arms aching and needing a break, I unrolled the carpet and spread it out as best I could around the junk. Incredible it was, stunningly beautifully patterned, about the size of a double bed, looking perfect, not a bit dusty or moth eaten. And it wasn’t as heavy as you’d expect, either, which was strange.
Then of course Trinity turned up, peering up through the loft hatch, leaning on the ladder. “What have you found?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said, but of course I had and she could see it.
“Liar,” she snarled, pulling herself up the last bit of the ladder and into the loft. “Ooh, it’s really disgusting up here,” she added, wrinkling her nose. “Bit like you really.” Then she turned to the carpet. “Hey, that must be worth a lot of money, I bet it’s a genuine Persian rug. Nice one,” she decided. “I could sell it.”
“But it’s not yours,” I objected. If Gran didn’t want it, I wanted it for myself. It’s not like it was trendy or anything, I just really liked it.
“It’s not yours either.”
“I found it.”
“Don’t be childish,” she said, looking down her nose at me. “I suppose you’re going to say finders keepersnext? Anyway, it’s Gran’s, and she’ll give it to me if I ask her for it.” As usual, I didn’t answer. I just sighed, knowing she was right. Trinity, being deliberately annoying as usual, sat down on the carpet. She looked up at me in her superior way, with her arms folded, secure in the knowledge that she had won again, because she always did.
Well, as I couldn’t get stuff down the ladder without her being there to hand it down to, I thought I might as well sit on the carpet once before it was taken away from me. So I stepped on to it and sat down.
Now this is going to be difficult to believe, but when I discussed it with Spencer afterwards (did I tell you he’s my best mate?), we agreed that nothing is impossible. Well evidently, because with the sound of whooshing, the carpet lifted off the floor. I remember Trinity’s horrified expression as we hovered for a minute over the ancient boards of the loft and the rest of Gran’s stuff that we hadn’t yet got downstairs, then somehow we must have slid through the roof because we were in the air outside and gliding through the clouds.
You can get your copy here and from bookshops for just £5.99. If you would like quantity discounts, please contact me. It’s a great story to give to a group so you can consider together the issues of justice v injustice, mercy v revenge, the temporal v the eternal. There are reading group questions in the back, and the format is dyslexia friendly, so nobody should feel left out. You can also order the book in large print and Braille via the Torch Trust (contact me for details).
Free Lunch?
A few weeks ago I went to Bessels Green Baptist Church to speak to members of their Seniors Club and had a delicious free lunch – home made quiche, new potatoes and fresh vegetables! A group of about 40 older people meet up every week. As well as talking about Dernier, I did a quiz on classic children’s stories, which was good fun. It was great to hear some of the “lunchers” talk about stories they enjoyed as children, and to remember how important stories are in our lives. A few people bought books for grandchildren – do pray they will touch hearts and lives. Sorry I meant to take some photos and completely forgot!
Christian Resources Exhibition
We didn’t exhibit at the Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown Park in Esher this year, but I did go as a visitor. Among the speakers were Rachel Gardner (from Youthscape) and George Verwer (founder of OM). What shone forth was their passion for what they do. In completely different ways, they are showing people there is another way – that the gospel of Jesus is good news. People don’t have to follow the crowd, but can walk the narrow way which brings freedom, grace, love, and blessings beyond measure.
We are not all called to be in the limelight like George and Rachel, but we all need to be reminded from time to time how important it is that we all pull our weight. We ALL have a job to do. We all have a vital task that only we can do. It’s so easy to go with the flow and get comfortable – but the time to be comfortable isn’t now, it will be later!
Social Proof
Would you be kind enough to write a review, if you have read Revenge of the Flying Carpet, (or any other of our books) for our website? I know it’s a nuisance, but if you had a few minutes it would be hugely appreciated (rest assured that I am the only one who can see your details). One thing that studies have shown that helps a book’s success is the number of reviews it amasses . . . and we hardly have any.
The more reviews, the more copies sold, which brings more reviews, so more copies sold – and so it goes on. Social proof is hugely important in getting people to trust us, who have never bought from us before. And we’d like to reach as many young people with the message of forgiveness as we can! You can do so here. Thank you!
Janet Wilson, Founder of Dernier Publishing
And I ought not to keep you any longer!
Grace and peace to you all, and thanks for reading the newsletter, and for all your support,
Janet
P.S. If you haven’t got anyone to buy Revenge of the Flying Carpetfor, we can send books on to a school in Africa desperate for reading material, on your behalf. Just let me know. :-)
Whhhoooo hooooooo, they have arrived, ready for release on 1st November!
Revenge of the Flying Carpet is a fun-filled feast for the imagination for 10-14s. If you want to be one of the first to get a copy, you can pre-order here. 🙂
Once again we have reached autumn and harvest time – how time flies, along with the swallows! Hope you have had a good summer.
Last weekend I went to stay with my brother, who moved to Ireland last year. It was my first time on Irish soil – what a beautiful country! One day we drove to the Atlantic coast. It was a windy day, and wow, how those waves were rolling in! But it was the pebbles on the beach that took my attention: they were all different sorts – really unusual. It reminded me how, although we are all so very different, with different gifts and from different walks of life, we are all in the kingdom of God together.
Some of the pebbles were so incredibly smooth, too! Rubbed up against each other, smashed by the waves and eroded by the rough sand day after day, the process is smoothing every sharp and rough corner. There’s a lesson there. If we are feeling battered by life, and bruised by people . . . we can rejoice! All those hardships are there to help us become more like Jesus.
I kept this one to remind me.
Paul learns a bit about that in the Revenge of the Flying Carpet, but more about that in a minute!
Book Parties
Please let me know if you’re interested in having a Dernier book party between now and Christmas. It’s a great way to get Christian books into more homes and earn some commission at the same time! I can email you all the details – just reply to this email or contact me here.
Lambeth Palace
Because of our links with Angel Tree, I was privileged to be invited to Lambeth Palace to an event organised by the Prison Fellowship. What an amazing work they do. Listening to the speakers and talking to a chaplain from a Young Offenders Institution afterwards, I came away more aware than ever how vital it is we reach our children with the good news of Jesus while they are young. There are too many heartbreaking stories – some of the boys in the YOI are as young as fifteen. 🙁 You can read more about the Prison Fellowship and Angel Tree here.
With Joanna from Angel Tree
Please pray for the children of prisoners who will receive our books this year through Angel Tree.Many of them are vulnerable themselves. And do buy books for children you care for – you may never know what misery you might avert by the seeds you sow.
Audio and Ebooks
Please keep praying for our audio books and ebooks, too! A lot of work is going into each file. Ebook files will be uploaded to the CLC website very soon. As soon as they are available I will let you know, of course. Nearly there!
I’ve just finished recording Living in Hope for the Torch Trust for blind and partially sighted people. I Want to Be An Airline Pilot is done; Under the Tamarind Tree is next, so people with sight loss can have the whole set of Rwanda books on audio. Reading into the microphone is not as easy as it might seem, and re-recording the bits when I stumble or get a word wrong is time-consuming. But slowly we’re getting there . . .
CRT
Thanks to all who prayed for our time at the Christian Resources Together retreat last month. It was a great time of meeting up with friends in the trade, and supporting each other, so together we can get as many Christian resources out into the church (and the world!) as we can. It was especially lovely for me to have author Eleanor Watkins helping on our exhibition stand. Thanks Eleanor! Our authors are such a vital part of the publishing process, and are greatly valued. Eleanor and I gave away copies of Rebecca and Jade: Choices to retailers from Christian bookshops. We hope many will read it and recommend it to customers.
Revenge of the Flying Carpet
Special Offer
Copies will be with us any time now from the printer! I can’t wait to see them. The cover will have varnish swirls, which you can’t see in the jpg image. The release date for this book is 1st November, but I have a special offer for you (as you are kind enough to be subscribed to this mailing list). If you pre-orderRevenge of the Flying Carpet between now and the launch date, I will send you, completely free, a copy of Deepest Darkness along with the new book, to pass on to a child on your heart. If you would be kind enough to write a review on our website when you have read it, I would be hugely grateful. The review can be as simple as ‘This was a good/bad book‘ or ‘I loved it/hated it‘ – you can write as much as you like, of course! We all look for reviews when we want to buy something, so the more reviews, the merrier. (This offer is exclusive to supporters on our mailing list, though, so please don’t pass it around.)
This is the link to our website. When you order, let me know you are a subscriber, and I’ll make sure your copy of Deepest Darkness goes into your parcel. This offer is only available pre-launch, so don’t delay, order now.
Revenge of the Flying Carpet will be available from your local Christian bookshop, of course, as well as from our website.
About the Book
Some of you know I started Dernier Publishing when I saw the need for fun fiction for young people written from a Christian perspective. (That’s cutting a long story short, but it will do for now!) I began writing stories myself, so I had something to publish in those early years when I had no money and no experience (and didn’t want to be responsible for ruining anyone else’s stories while on that steep learning curve!). Actually, I found I loved writing fiction, but as Dernier has got bigger I’ve had little time for writing, as I’ve concentrated on publishing other people’s stories.
However, a few years ago I had an idea for a story that was burning in me. I began writing Revenge of the Flying Carpet – and actually finished it. We all know children who are bullied and badly treated at home and at school. Knife and gun crime are on the increase. Gangs bring violence because revenge is a way of life – and unless there’s forgiveness, there will never be and end to the suffering. It may be natural instinct to want to ‘get even’, but it doesn’t work – it just brings more pain to more people. Lives will carry on being scarred, hurt, torn apart. Children are not exempt.
I wanted to write a book that would bring hope to young people who suffer or who have suffered at the hands of other people. A charity we have links with runs trauma healing workshops for Christians in Nigeria who are victims of people who burn their villages, kill their families, kidnap their girls. Forgiveness is part of the healing process. Challenging? You bet.
In the Revenge of the Flying Carpet, Paul’s sister is mean to him – very mean. All the time. All his life he has had to put up with her mocking, bullying, mean nastiness. I wanted to show readers that although in this world there can be injustice, pain, abuse, oppression and all kinds of evil, one day there will be justice. And for now, there needs to be grace and forgiveness. We need to forgive, and we need to be forgiven. It’s then we find freedom. Paul finds this challenging, too, in the book, as he hears the good news of Jesus and starts to understand what it means. I pray the story will bring hope to anyone who has ever suffered at the hands of others, as well as being an enjoyable read! I hope it will help young people find forgiveness – forgiveness for themselves, for the wrongs they have done, and forgiveness for the people who have sinned against them. Or at least take a step in that direction.
I hope you will buy this book, read it yourself, then pass it on and buy more for the 10-14s in your life (you might even enjoy it yourself!).
Janet Wilson, Founder of Dernier Publishing
And that’s all I have room for!
Grace and peace to you,
Janet
P.S. I used to be Evans before I was Wilson, so I’ve kept J.M. Evans as my pen name. Still me, though!
We had a great time at the Christian Resources Together event at The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, last week.
This event is so everyone in the Christian book/card/gift trade can meet together. Suppliers have exhibition stands, retailers from Christian bookshops check out what’s new . . . but it’s much more than that. There are times of worship and prayer, networking opportunities, we eat together and have an Awards Celebration. And we chat, laugh and commiserate with each other, depending what’s going on! There’s a unity among us; we’re all there because we want to serve the Kingdom of God. Friendships are made and grow, year by year.
Oh, and authors are welcome, too! This year, Eleanor Watkins came and signed her new book, Rebecca and Jade: Choices. We had a good time! Please continue pray for all the contacts we have made, and all the children who will read our books as a result of this conference. Thank you!
We have sent out our first Book Party Starter Pack! Here it is:
It consists of 15 Dernier titles, 20 bookmarks, 20 leaflets and 4 posters (not shown).
This is an exciting development! If you would like to hold a Book Party, please contact us!
Would you like to see more Christian books in young people’s hands?
Would you like a bit of extra cash coming up to Christmas? 🙂
Do you like getting together with friends and family?
Host you own Dernier Book Party and it’s win/win/win! 🙂
It’s a great thing to give church children books that will encourage and inspire them to keep walking with God . . . and to share the good news with others who might otherwise not hear it. At an age when there are so many pressures on our precious young people to conform to the world, books can change lives. Well, the Lord changes lives, but from the testimonies we receive, we know that the Lord is using our books! They are a bit like seeds – who knows what fruit might grow?
Thank you for reading this! And thank you so much for all your prayers for Dernier – please be assured they are making a massive difference. We are finding more and more outlets to get the good news of Jesus through story into young people’s hands . . . which is why we exist!
There’s so much excellent news this month, and so much to do, my head is spinning, so we need your prayers more than ever!
I do hope you will find among all this news, something that will help you reach out to the children on your heart.
Right, where shall I start . . . OK, let’s begin with books to prisoners’ children:
Angel Tree
We are thrilled to be sending books to prisoners’ children again this Christmas via the Angel Tree foundation (an arm of the Prison Fellowship). Approximately *1,000 children* will receive one of our books each! How amazing is that? 🙂
The books are offered through prison chaplains and will be sent to the children of prisoners who havechosen to have their child sent a Christian book on their behalf. This is an amazing opportunity, to get the good news of Jesus into the hands of 8-16 year-old children, many of whom are in a vulnerable situation themselves. Please keep praying!
Here are some of the boxes of books we delivered (I drove through central London for the first time ever – scary or what!).
Book Parties
Here’s another fab way YOU can make a difference!
Would you like to:
See more Christian books in young people’s hands?
Earn a bit of extra cash coming up to Christmas?
Have a get-together with your friends and family?
Yes? We’re all set to trial “Book Parties” andwould love you to host one! The run up to Christmas is a great time to invite all your friends over, so you can have fun, earn some commission and know you are doing your bit to share the good news with young people while you’re at it. :-)
Here’s how it will work (hopefully, eek!): You order a starter pack from us, with 15 books, (which you will only pay half price for), free bookmarks and leaflets, downloadable invites and order forms . . . have I missed anything? Don’t think so! Oh, FREE shipping!
Although you have to invest in the starter pack, you will only pay £44.92 (RRP £89.85). You can sell these books at the RRP at your party, of course, so get your money back and double it (if you sell them all), or keep them . . . or offer your guests a discount.You will also earn generous commission on each extra book ordered at your party, so the more books you sell, the more commission!
Just think, you may never know the seeds you may sow. From having fun with your friends!
We will start off with quite a high rate of commission, to get these Book Parties off the ground, so the time to act is now! Please contact me if you’re up for giving it a go!
5* Reviews
They’ve arrived! Real copies at last!
Rebecca and Jade: Choices has received three 5* reviews on Amazon! Congratulations to Eleanor Watkins, who has written this fab new book. If you have teenage girls you need a gift for, who have life choices to make of their own, this is the perfect present. Read more here. It’s a bargain at just £5.99!
Audio books
I’m currently recording some of our books as audio books for Torch Trust (for people with sight loss) – this is a new thing for me and I’m struggling a bit with the technology, but I’m getting there slowly. This is James from Torch Trust, who taught me how to use the recording equipment. Torch Trust have kindly agreed to allow us to use the final files ourselves, so I hope to bring audio books out for you at some point – for when you don’t have time to read to your children yourself, or to buy as gifts. 🙂 Please pray for this project!
Ebooks and Kindle Books
Last month I took all our novels off sale in the Amazon kindle store, so I could standardise the layout and add all the books which have never been available as ebooks.
I also recently met up with Neil Wardrope, Digital Director of CLC. We had a good conversation about working together to get Dernier books as ebooks on the CLC website.
Neil Wardrope, Digital Director, CLC
More and more children are using phones . . . but what are they looking at? What if they had Christian books on their phones to read?
We are now nearly ready to launchall our books as kindle and ebooks. Please pray for this project, too! In theory, we will be able to reach children/young people who are unable to get hold of our paperbacks, especially in countries where Christians are persecuted and/or shipping is difficult. They are also fab to have on phones, tablets and laptops, so young people have something excellent to read.
Watch this space!
Revenge of the Flying Carpet
Revenge of the Flying Carpet will be with us soon in paperback format. Yay! Brenda, a teacher, gave us this 5* review:
“Revenge of the Flying Carpet is an action-packed time travel adventure that maintains an element of intrigue and mystery right to the last page. Paul’s wide-ranging encounters and experiences help him to reflect on some of his real-life issues. An original and challenging read. 9-14s will love it. So did I!”
We are using a new typesetting programme and a new printer for this book, so I would value your prayers that all will go smoothly. Thank you so much.
Christian Resources Together
I am off to this trade event next week, at the Hayes retreat centre, Swanwick, meeting up with Christian booksellers and other Christian publishers. It’s a busy couple of days, but always an excellent time, because we truly are all in this together. Do support your local Christian bookshops, especially in the run up to Christmas. They need our help to keep going, and are a lovely bunch of people!
Phew!
Can that be all? Probably not! But will catch up with you all again soon.
Love to you all,
Janet
P.S. Don’t forget to contact me to order your Book Party Pack. :-)
Oh dear, I forgot to post July’s newsletter, after sending it to subscribers. Sorry! 🙁 Some of it is still relevant, at least, so do have a read!
Getting Books Out of Boxes
A couple of weeks ago I did a stock-take and was horrified at the number of books we still have in boxes, when they should be out there, in children’s hands! I mean, producing books to encourage and inspire is great, but what’s the point of having them in boxes? It’s like the man who buried his talent. Not good.
Even as I write this, I can hear the combine harvester and the tractors at work in the field over the road – the harvest has begun! We didn’t know when the farmer would come . . . in the same way, we don’t know when the final harvest will come.
I see the boxes stacked up every day, but seeing the actual numbers in black and white hit home. So, I had a long think, prayed, got some advice, and have:
Set up a book of the month on our Facebook page. I chose Under the Tamarind Tree for July, as it’s a lovely book to give for end of term prizes, is suitable for boys and girls, and would make lovely summer family reading, too. I have been putting up one chapter of the book every day on our Facebook page, so people get a taste for the story, and those who can’t afford to buy the book can read it to their children.
Started a competition! Please join in! At the top of our Facebook page I have pinned a post where if you share the post, you have the chance to win a copy of Under the Tamarind Tree. Please, please, do share! The more people comment, like and share Facebook posts, the further they go, exponentially, and will help others know what we do. You can find the post here. And you could win a book!
Set up some Facebook ads. Please pray the ads will reach the people who would be interested, if only they knew. And pray for wisdom as I set up the ads, because it’s not easy to get it right.
Started a Sale on our website. This is the first sale we have ever had. I believe the books are worth every penny of the full price, but if it gets the books out of boxes, I’m willing to try the Sale route. Do take a look. Books start at £2.99/copy – please let all your friends know by sharing the link via email, Facebook and twitter. Thank you! 🙂
I have put up a new page on the Dernier Publishing website, about what we do, in an attempt to gain some interest. You can see it here. Do share.
It seems to me that people are sincerely concerned for their young people, and if only they knew our books existed, and how they have changed lives, they would buy them. As you do! 🙂 We need to spread the word.
And don’t forget, you can also buy our books from Christian bookshops.
Share the Wealth
Someone loves the Beech Bank Girls books! “My 10 year old has read the first 2 of these and loved them so much she wanted to get them for her best (non christian) friend for her birthday. She said they would explain to her really well what being a Christian meant. Love my little evangelist! Will get her the others and stock up for her to give away!”
Camps and Clubs
Let’s pray for camps and clubs taking place over the summer. They can be life-changing. I went on a Crusader’s (now Urban Saints) holiday to Cumbria when I was about fourteen, and it was hugely helpful to me in my new-found faith. If you would like books for a club/camp you are involved with, to give away to participants, please let me know. I have a soft-spot for camps, and taking a book home means the message goes home with the attendees, to water the seeds you have sown.
The City Kid
The City Kid goes to Uganda! Author Clive Lewis took as many copies of The City Kid as he could manage when he went out to Uganda to visit family recently. He gave several copies to Dickens Zziwa, from Scripture Union Uganda. These books are hugely appreciated, with their life-changing message.
If you, or someone you know, is visiting a church or school abroad, could you give them a handful of books to take with them? The young lad in the story gets himself in such a terrible predicament, he wants to end his life, but finds Christ. It’s a gritty, moving story. One of the young lads we know who read it told us, “This is how life really is.”
We are still working on more efficient ways to get our books to Africa. Please pray for this process.
And that’s all for now! Thanks so much for your support,
Now, more than ever, we are living in a society in which overt sin is becoming ever more pervasive and ‘normal’; the darkness can at times seem overwhelming and our children are out there in it.
The need for excellent books for young people written from a Christian worldview is great. There are plenty of stories which have incited interest in the occult and witchcraft, violence, materialism and worldly relationships, but what about books where the Lord is God, where faith in the Lord Jesus Christ matters, where people pray and read the Bible?
These don’t have to be dry subjects! – they can be as alive, real, funny, scary and sad as any secular story, but with the enormous extra bonus of a spiritual perspective.
What we fill our minds with, is what we become. What are the children you care about filling their minds with?
Our vision is to produce excellent, relevant, fun novels for young people aged 8-17, to encourage and inspire them in their walk with God, and to show non-church kids what they are missing!
Every now and then we hear more depressing statistics about young people leaving the church; anything we can do to show them that it’s great to be a Christian has got to be good and it’s a fact that most people come to know the Lord when they are young.
We can’t afford to be complacent.
We have heard about young people becoming Christians after reading our novels, and had reviews saying, “This is the best book I’ve ever read.” And who knows how many seeds have been sown, all over the world? Thrilling!
Reading the books with your children gives you an opportunity to discuss issues raised in the stories, such as prayer, forgiveness, bullying, teenage pregnancy, body image, illness and freedom of choice. Words are powerful, but you only have a small window of opportunity before your children grow up. The Bible urges us to share our faith with our children; stories give an opportunity to chat things through – don’t put it off.
Our children’s faith is priceless.
One day ‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.’
We so want our kids to be there.
If you share our vision, please sign up for our news and prayer letter. Once a month we will keep you in touch with what’s new.
Janet Wilson, Founder of Dernier Publishing
May the Lord bless you, and the children on your heart,
Author Clive Lewis visited Uganda recently. He says: “I took over 30 copies of The City Kid with me on our recent trip to Uganda, distributing them to various people with an interest in youth work. Dickens Zziwa [CEO of SU Uganda] was very pleased to receive 12 copies as well as the modest proceeds from another dozen that I ‘sold’ for a donation to Scripture Union Uganda.”
We are delighted that young people in Uganda will have access to this excellent book. Please pray for those who will read it! 🙂 The City Kid is a ‘prodigal’ style story about a young lad who gets involved in corruption and tries to end his own life. But he is spared, and finds Jesus. That’s a very short summary! Why not buy a copy, see if it might be suitable for the young people in your life?
We had a wonderful time at the book launch of Rebecca and Jade: Choices last month. Thanks to all who prayed! Thanks also to author Eleanor and all at Bethesda Evangelical Church in Hay-on-Wye for hosting this lovely event. Lots of people came, ate cake, bought books (including Beech Bank Girls books) and talked!
The book was sold in the Hay Festival Bookshop. Please pray for the girls who will be reading this book, making choices of their own.
Rebecca and Jade: Choices in the Hay Festival Bookshop
Death and Grief, Life and Hope
News of so many tragedies involving young people have hit our screens recently, and have left us all reeling. The terrorist attacks in London and Manchester, the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower, the forest fire in Portugal. Grief, shock, pain, fear uncertainty, homelessness, lives that will never be the same again.
Even young people who don’t know anyone directly affected are shaken, and many don’t know where to turn. Most have never had to think about death and grief before; now many are thrown into a new reality.
We are trying to get as many books into young people’s hands as possible, to sow seeds of life and hope. I know you will be trying to do the same.
All our books hold out the seeds of faith, hope and love.
The first review I ever received via email, was about The Treasure Hunt, from a girl called Emily, and was just one short sentence: “This is the best book I ever read!” I knew then we were on to something. Not because The Treasure Hunt is the best written, most brilliant, most entertaining, thrilling book in the world, but it has a secret ingredient . . . it’s not just entertainment . . . it holds faith, hope and love. As do all our books. And there’s nothing greater than these three things.
Terence
We had our own individual tragedy, as the day after we returned from holiday our cat, Terence, was hit by a car in the road. We buried him in the garden, where he loved to play. Sweet, fun little kitty, full of mischief and adventure. I know many people not far away have lost loved ones, and he was only a cat, but we still miss him.
From a Children’s Worker:
“I gave them [books] to the children I work with on a Wednesday. Noah (9) said ‘Hey! This is a Christian book!’ with a big smile on his face.”
Delighted to hear stories like these. So many children, even from church families, don’t have the opportunity to enjoy books that will encourage them in their faith and feed them good things. Thanks to Wendy, who gave these books away. Who knows what the Lord might do through them?
Revenge of the Flying Carpet Cover
Drum roll, please! Fresh from the designer, here’s the front cover of Revenge of the Flying Carpet. Thanks to illustrator Lorraine and designer Gill!
Please pray we will have the finances to bring this book out as planned in the autumn. We give a lot of books away, but the costs involved in production generally include the cover illustrator, designer, editor, proofreader, typesetter, and the cost of actually printing the book. As we have low print runs, the cost per copy is high. It’s a dream to sell thousands of copies, so we can lower prices and reach more children (there are 1.9 billion children in the world – the dream is to reach as many as we can, as long as we can!). Please pray with us, because we know the Lord is able to do way more than we can ask for or even imagine. 🙂
Thanks for reaching the end of the newsletter! Bless you for putting up with me for this long. 🙂 Here’s a win/win offer . . . 10 books for £50, to help you with your clubs, camps, end of terms and parties. Any books you like . . . just contact me if you’d like to take up the offer!
The book launch of ‘Rebecca and Jade: Choices’ took place on a sunny day in Hay-on-Wye during the Hay Festival.
Rebecca and Jade: Choices, YA novel for teenage girls
Thanks to all who came, and congratulations to author Eleanor Watkins on her 44th book release!
Eleanor Watkins with her latest book, Rebecca and Jade: Choices
Here are a few pictures from the day:
Eleanor with Janet Wilson from Dernier PublishingHay FestivalRebecca and Jade: Choices in the Hay Festival BookshopEleanor Watkins signing books
You can buy this fab book for teenage girls here, or from your local Christian bookshop. More details about the book here. Any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. 🙂
Stories entertain, amuse us, and we learn from them. They can inspire us for good or evil. They leave a “taste in our mouth”. The best stories hold us long after we have put the book down. Make sure your children are reading good stuff!
I was planning on writing something completely different this month, but the news of the tragedy in Manchester has eclipsed all other thoughts. It’s difficult to find the words to say. Even though we may not know anyone personally affected, the sadness on our screens has touched us all. The sight and sound of young people screaming and running, the mum desperate for news of her daughter, images of children injured, hits hard. So much grief, so much trauma, some who will be affected forever, scarred for life. And what about the perpetrators? What could have possessed them to turn to such evil? We know so well the verse, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they might have life, and life in all its fullness.” The suicide bomber was just 23. Let’s pray for everyone caught up in this appalling evil, that the Lord will have mercy, and turn many to himself, that He might bring light and life out of this dreadful tragedy.
If you live in or near Manchester and know anyone who could take our books to young people in hospital, or to those who have lost loved ones, please contact me.
Another thought: the suicide bomber was brought up in this country. Please pray we will be able to get our books into school libraries. Even in places where there is no Christian teaching, perhaps some might come to find life through our books.
Something More Cheerful
Mary Weeks Millard giving Christian books to Star School, Rwanda
Praise the Lord for something more cheerful to report. Earlier in the year, author Mary Weeks Millard visited Rwanda. She says:
“A highlight of the trip was to visit Star School, at Masaka, near Kigali. I prayed over the piece of ground and have had the joy of seeing a large school grow on the site, over about 10 years. The school has a Christian foundation and seeks to educate children whose parents might not otherwise be able to afford good schooling for them. It has nursery, primary and secondary departments. Many children are sponsored through Mission Possible UK, and it was a delight for me to see the boy whom I have sponsored through the years. He is now in the top primary class. However, the main point of the visit was to give books to the library, and I took 25 books from Dernier Publishing. These were well received – there are very few fiction books for leisure reading in the library – and the boarders were very pleased with the new additions.”
Such good news! These stories with their biblical themes have so much potential to touch lives. Another box of books recently reached a school for deaf children (most of whom are orphans) in Kenya. Please pray with us for all who read our books, wherever they are in the world.
Three More Bits of Good News!
1. First bit of good news: Mystery in the Snow is going to be printed in Croatian, to join the first three Beech Bank Girls books and The Treasure Hunt.
Yippee! So thrilled that non-English speaking youngsters will be able to read this fun story about four Christian kids who solve the mystery of the shed burglaries. 🙂
2. Second bit of good news: I met Joanna from Angel Tree for a business meeting (honest!) earlier this week. Angel Tree is the arm of the Prison Fellowship which gives gifts to prisoners’ children at Christmas, along with a Christian book if the prisoner wishes (which most do). Please pray Joanna chooses the right books for the children, many of whom are vulnerable, and may not hear the good news any other way. We are delighted and privileged to be able to share in this ministry.
3. Revenge of the Flying Carpet came out as a kindle book a while ago: we are planning on bringing this out as a paperback in the autumn. The new cover hasn’t yet been finalised, but here is a sneak preview of the cover image:
This book deals with the subjects of revenge, justice, mercy and forgiveness through the eyes of a young lad with the worst sister in the world. Vital issues, from a Christian perspective, all rolled up in an engaging story. More news in due course!
Best News!
They’ve arrived! Real copies at last!
I have saved the best news for last. 🙂 We now have copies of Rebecca and Jade: Choices, ready for release next Tuesday (30th May)! This is a powerful and moving novel written from a Christian perspective for teenage girls. Two sixteen-year-olds become friends, despite their differences. When one of the girls finds herself pregnant (I’m not telling you which one!), they both have choices to make, which have far-reaching consequences.
One mum who reviewed it for us said: “It sensitively covered issues facing teens today including pregnancy, relationships, friendship and support . . . Gave me a good opportunity to open up the subject of abortion with my daughter and we had a really good chat. She’s got someone in her year who‘s pregnant (at fifteen).”
Author Eleanor Watkins with her latest book, Rebecca and Jade: Choices
(She said some other lovely things, too, but they include spoilers, so I’ll have to keep those things to myself for the time being!)
This isn’t a book telling readers what they should do. It’s an invitation to readers to think about the choices they make. Oh, and one of the girls becomes a Christian, but, again, I’m not telling you which one! I hope you will buy this book for all the girls you know (contact me for quantity discounts), because the choices they make will determine their future, as they do for Rebecca and Jade.
The launch will take place in Bethesda Evangelical Church in Hay-on-Wye, on Tuesday 30th May from 11am – 1pm. You are all totally and very warmly invited! Author Eleanor will be signing books, I will be there too . . . and it’s during the Hay Festival, so lots to see and do if you love books!
That’s all for this month, but before we go, would you join me in a brief prayer, that our books will touch young lives?
Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, please help us to get our books to where they are needed.Please use them to touch children with your love, to bring light and life in the darkness, hope and joy where there is despair, comfort for those who grieve, to bring truth to those who seek it, and eternal life with you. Amen.
Janet Wilson, Founder of Dernier Publishing
Thank you so much for being here with us,
Janet
P.S. The new books look way better in real life than they do in these images! 🙂
New book arriving shortly from the printer . . . hope all will be OK! I always get a bit nervous at this point – once we had to send a whole batch back because the margins were wrong . . . eek! Will put up some photos when we get them . . .
Order yours here! Be the first to get hold of a copy! (Release is 30th May.)
Our new catalogue is with us! Do click on the link to take a look, and share with everyone you know who might be interested in getting their hands on good Christian books for young adults and 8-12s. 🙂 Together we can make a difference!
At last I can reveal the front cover of ‘Rebecca and Jade: Choices’ by Eleanor Watkins!
Rebecca and Jade – Choices Front Cover
This lovely YA novel for teenage girls features friends Rebecca and Jade, and the choices they make. You will soon be able to pre-order; release/launch is 30th May. 🙂
Delighted that some of our books have reached Star School in Rwanda, courtesy of author Mary Weeks Millard, who visited recently.
Seeing photos like these is like seeing a dream come true. I couldn’t quite see that far when I set up Dernier Publishing in a corner of my dining room, with only a vision and a passion for children to find the good news through stories.
Sometimes it hardly seems real, when I am trying to juggle so many things and working with the nitty gritty day to day workings of the business, that our books are going all over the world. But there are the books, in these children’s hands. And these are only the tip of the iceberg – many books have gone out and we have no idea where they are or who is reading them! What the Lord has done is truly awesome.
May the word not return empty, and may He receive all the glory!
Yes, you can be a youth worker! All you have to do is give a Christian book to a young person, pray for them, and let the book (and the Holy Spirit!) do the work for you.
But how do you get over the scariness of giving a book to a child with no church background?
Here’s an idea:
1. Get parents’ permission.
2. “I saw this book and thought of you.” (Or, I saw this book and thought of Therese, if you give the book to the parents.)
3. “Please read it and tell me what you think!”
What do you think? Any other ideas? Easter could be the perfect excuse to give away books and become the most amazing youth worker! 🙂
Hurray, Thursday March 2nd 2017 is World Book Day! To celebrate this fab event, we are giving away a FREE BOOK with every order between now and then.
Books don’t grow on trees (although the paper is made from trees, hehe!) but this once, you can get this wonderful book completely free of charge with any order.
Don’t worry if your book doesn’t show up in the shopping cart – we will add it to your order when we pack up your books. 🙂
So this would be a good time to make an order – do it now before you forget!
Not got anyone to give your book to? Here are some ideas:
We have had some new leaflets printed, for churches and schools, very similar to this one! All our books are chosen for their excellent Christian content as part of a gripping story . . . pass the news on, and buy them for all the children on your heart. 🙂
Delegates to this weekend’s Hand in Hand Children’s and Family Ministry Conference in Eastbourne will each receive a book courtesy of Dernier Publishing. Books are often not high on the priority list of church budgets, but we hope and pray that when delegates read the books, they will see what a difference they can make. Please pray with us!
Welcome to the Dernier Publishing Newsletter, February 2017
Thanks for being here again, reading our news, and for all your support and prayers. We simply wouldn’t be here without you. Yesterday I heard that one of the big Christian publishers have cut their staff by two thirds. We can’t take anything for granted in the publishing business. Every prayer you offer on our behalf, every book you buy, keeps us going. Book production costs are high, and margins low. So please accept my heartfelt thank you for all you do. Keep up the good work! 🙂
Youth Club Visit
I spoke at a local youth group recently – what a privilege! And it was such fun! I took along a couple of packs of playing cards, and we built card houses which was tricky. Isn’t it just so frustrating when things are looking good, then the whole thing collapses? 🙂
The point I wanted to make was that whatever awful things happen in life; even when the whole house seems to be coming down around you and nothing seems to be going right, God is still right there. I wanted the young people to know that the Lord will be with them and help them in every difficulty that comes their way, small or large. I gave them some books, too, to read and review. One girl had already read London’s Gone and told me it was one of her favourite books – yippee! And another young lad said how much he liked the cover of The City Kid. Hurray! Please pray for young people like these, most of whom are church children, who need every encouragement to keep walking in the faith they have learnt from their parents. Who knows – maybe something from one of the books will touch their hearts and change their lives. Please pray with me! Random Gifts
I mentioned in a previous email that back in the autumn Age UK approached us with a request for a raffle prize, to raise money for a Christmas dinner for elderly people who would otherwise be on their own. I have no idea where they got our name from, but, always on the lookout for opportunities to get our books into children’s hands, I sent them a set of five random books like this:
A couple of weeks ago I received a thank you letter – they raised £900 for the raffle, and the elderly people had a lovely day. What a wonderful thing to be able to help with! Not only that, the books will have found a home – I wonder where? One thing I do know: our Lord doesn’t do random, so we have been praying that the books will end up exactly where they are needed. Exciting, isn’t it – maybe one day we will hear an amazing story!
I’ve got a few of these ‘random’ sample packs of books left from a trade event and was wondering what to do with them . . . here’s an idea: would you like one of them to put in a tombola, offer as a prize, at a club or camp or fair or fête or whatever? Imagine the impact we could make if each of us gave away a pack of books away in our corner! Who knows how far the books could go, how many children we could reach! Maybe, together, we can do a miracle.
If you’d like one or more of these packs (five books in each pack), as long as you promise to give them away (and this is only available to subscribers of our newsletter): £20.00 (free UK p+p). Get your pack/s now and put them away for the summer, because when they’re gone they’re gone. You can have as many packs as you like, but you can’t choose the books, it’s pot luck! Please contact me if you’d like a pack. Or more than one!
(If you are reading this and you are not a subscriber to our newsletter, please sign up so you can join in the fun – it would be lovely to have you.) Books in Croatian
Look at these! Now the first three Beech Bank Girls, and The Treasure Hunt, are available in Croatian! Don’t you just love the spy on the Treasure Hunt cover? 🙂 May these books bless many, and may they be the first of many to reach children for whom English is not their mother tongue. Reviews
Thank you Brenda, a secondary school teacher, who kindly took the time to work out how to put reviews on our website! This is what she wrote, to help potential purchasers: Beech Bank Girls, Every Girl Has a Story: “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.
It is just a pity that the cover does not, in my opinion, reflect the modern real-life nature of the book. I look forward to reading the others in the series.” London’s Gone: “A good well-paced story with plenty of action and some unexpected twists, it easily holds your interest. Many readers will find it easy to empathise with 16 year old Maria who is frequently at odds with the world. She is contrasted by Arthur, an idealistic holy-joe, set on doing the right thing at all times whatever the circumstances. They both have much to learn but somehow manage to work together towards a common goal. I did find Arthur somewhat irritating at times – but I’ve been told that he is supposed to be so.
I thought that the Christian part of the ending was well handled. No quantum leaps thankfully; it suited the overall flow of the story.
It is refreshingly different to other books around at the moment. I look forward to the sequel.”
The Only Way: “Wow!
You don’t often find a book like this.
It walks that fine line between our world today and a whole other spiritual world. It offers depth and hope to kids who are struggling.
It will appeal to a wide range of readers.
Brilliant!” The City Kid: “This is an up-to-date realistic story that will resonate with teens from a range of cultures, regardless of whether they have a church background or not.
The issues that John faces are relevant to modern life. It is well paced and easy to read. It is the sort of Christian book you could comfortably give to a friend. It also has some challenges for those already Christian.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
If you or your children have read any of our books, please do leave a review on our website – even if it’s just a short sentence. “My daughter really enjoyed this,” (or didn’t!) is all that’s needed. Thank you! Christian Bookshops
Don’t forget you can buy all our books from Christian bookshops in the UK, as well as through our website. Do support them, they do a great job.
Janet Wilson, Founder of Dernier Publishing
Have a wonderful February (spring is nearly here!), Janet
Hello again, and welcome to the final Dernier newsletter of 2016! Thank you all once again for supporting Dernier through another year. 2016 was a challenging year for me, as my mum’s dementia worsened and she passed away in the summer. Thank you for your prayers and all the kind messages; it meant a lot. At the same time, there has still been much to celebrate, because in 2016:
The City Kid was finally released in print, so we have 15 books! This is an amazing miracle.
Our books went to more countries around the world than ever before, including Chad and Bhutan.
Beech Bank Girls 2 became available in Croatian.
The Torch Trust made more of our books available in large print and Braille, for children with sight loss
Copies of the Christmas Beech Bank Girls will go to prisoners’ children this Christmas through Angel Tree, part of the Prison Fellowship.
We sent some of our books to under-resourced schools in Kenya and Zambia.
More writers have been through the Write for a Reason course and joined our monthly programme.
As books have gone out we have heard of readers riveted and hearts touched.
This testimony was posted on the Dernier facebook page:
“After reading The Birthday Shoes, (my then) 10yr old daughter said she wanted to know Jesus just like the girl in the story. Two years ago at age 12, she was baptised and confirmed.”
So many wonderful encouragements! Your support has made all these things possible as you have prayed, bought books, lent books, sold books (thank you Christian bookshops), written books, advised, helped and encouraged and in so many ways. You know who you are! Sincere thanks to each and every one of you. Who knows what other seeds have been sown, yet to bear fruit? Exciting times . . .
And 2016 is not over yet! There’s still plenty of time to make this the best Christmas ever!
Please order books for Christmas for all the children you know – friends’ children and grandchildren, Christian Union members, children from kids clubs and uniformed organisations. If you need quantity discounts, to pay in the new year, or if there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know. I always try to help if I can. And don’t forget your local Christian bookshops are always glad to help, too. 🙂
Saving a Sheep!
Last week when Andrew (husband) and I were out for a country walk we heard a sudden loud “baa” just the other side of the hedgerow. Strange, we thought – the sheep were all far away on the other side of the field, so we climbed the bank and saw a sheep with her head caught in a wire fence. We went back to the nearest farm; it wasn’t their field, but the nice farmer set her free. He said we had done the right thing—she probably would have died if we hadn’t done something. It was lovely to see her run off to join the other sheep!
A small thing can make a huge difference – an act of kindness, an encouraging word, an ear to listen . . . these things can save lives. Don’t walk by today.
Many children in the UK have phones, laptops and tablets, games and toys, but little in the way of spiritual input. Most of our books are just £5.99, but you can not over-estimate the value of Christian books. They challenge us, make us think, the stories stay with us . . . yet many of our children do not have the opportunity to hear the good news, and even church children are falling away. If you are reading this, be aware that not everyone sees the need – you may have to do something for the children in your church/neighbourhood, because other people might not. I’ve put up 25 reasons to buy fiction for children and teenagers here – just in case you would like to pass them on!
2017
We have more books in the pipeline. Please pray as we move forward with these.
Also, God willing, next year I’d like to find a way to send books to African schools. So many are desperate for books, but don’t have the resources to buy them. Several schools have already received our books, and they are so, so grateful. Many are Christian-run, so our books are of immense value to them, with educational value and the extra added bonus of a spiritual dimension.
I don’t yet have a plan, but will be working on it. Any ideas, please contact me!
Please would you pass on our Christmas Online Catalogue?
Would you be kind enough to put this link on your facebook page, twitter feed or any of your other social media? And email to anyone you know who might be interested? Particularly Christians who are influential in the world of young people? Thank you very much.
Finally, let’s pray for all the children who will receive our books this Christmas. I was going to say particularly the prisoners’ children, but every child is equally precious. May the Lord touch the hearts of all who read, to find God’s love and grace in Emmanuel, God with us.
Janet Wilson, Founder of Dernier Publishing
And may the Lord bless you too, this Christmas!
Janet
P.S. If you are giving our books away and would like us to pray, please let us know. 🙂
1. Stories stick in your mind (Jesus told stories for a reason!)
2. Christian books are a great way to share the good news.
3. Young people can reflect on subjects such as prayer, justice
and forgiveness, for themselves.
4. Church kids find it thrilling to find Christian characters in a ‘real’ story!
5. Christian fiction helps church children feel less marginalised.
6. Books written from a Christian perspective can be an eye-opener for non-church young people, and can bring hope.
7. Stories are much more exciting to read than straight information!
8. We are influenced by what we put into our minds; Christian books contain Christian values.
9. Books help readers think about spiritual and moral issues.
10. Christian characters can be inspiring in the way they win through in different situations.
11. Ideas that come up in stories help us to evaluate our own lives.
12. Modern Christian fiction is culturally relevant (and exciting!).
13. Young people can find out how Bible stories are applicable to their own lives.
14. Books make non-threatening presents for non-church families.
15. They aid literacy (they are books!); Christian books have the added bonus of a spiritual dimension.
16. Children desperate for an education can learn about God’s love while they read.
17. Christian books make non-threatening gifts where spiritual input may otherwise be impossible.
18. Reading a Christian novel with your children is great for bonding.
19. You can discuss biblical issues that Christian books bring up, helping you to fulfil your duties as a Christian parent/teacher!
20. Christian books can sow seeds that will bear fruit in years to come.
21. Not all books out there are helpful – Christian books are a fabulous alternative.
22. Christian books bring up current issues, such as modern day slavery, from a Christian perspective.
23. Christian fiction can encourage and inspire young people to walk with God, even church kids who are bored with Bible stories
24. We have received many testimonies of how our books have touched lives – some children are drawn to Christian books.
25. Every child is precious, and should have a chance to hear the good news in a way that is relevant to them.
Apologies to subscribers to Write for a Reason who have already heard this story! We have a new young rescue cat called Terence. The rescue centre advised us not to let him outside for at least two weeks, until he had bonded with us, or he wouldn’t come back as he wouldn’t consider it home. Isn’t he cute! He was found abandoned in an empty building; a neighbour was feeding him through the letter box.
When two weeks had passed he seemed settled, but the second time he went out he was away so long I thought we had lost him. I went round the garden and up and down the road, shaking the biscuit box calling ‘Terence’ (sorry, neighbours!) and eventually we got him home. Phew! In the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd leaves the 99 grazing safely on the hillside and goes to look for the lost sheep. How happy the shepherd was to have found his lost sheep! I felt a bit like that when I finally got Terence back.
The Lord doesn’t want any of his little ones to be lost.(Matthew 18:10-14) That’s the reason Dernier exists: to help at least some of them find the way home.
Lacking Funds?
Christmas is a great opportunity to reach out with Christian books, which might not be so easily accepted any other time of year . . . but when you already have so many other expenses, the opportunity can be lost. If you have been thinking that you’d love to give your Brownie pack a copy each of The Birthday Shoes, offer your youth club members a copy each of The City Kid, or send a pack of books to a children’s home in Africa, but can’t afford to buy that many books yourself, could you:
Ask your prayer group/homegroup to pitch in; maybe if you split the cost it would be achievable?
Raise money at an event: what about a mulled wine evening with an auction of promises?
I know a Sunday School teacher who asked church members to sponsor a book each and pray for the child who would receive the gift – she had an amazing response.
If you can’t get the funds together but have a need, please contact me – there may be a way we can help. Our mission is to get our books into as many young people’s hands as possible. If you can afford to pay for the books full price, that’s great—it will help us to produce more, but if not, we’d hate a missed opportunity. 🙂
Do you have a local Christian bookshop?
Most Christian bookshops stock our books, but they sell a huge range of other books and gifts, advent calendars, cards, daily Bible reading notes, CDS, DVDs . . . all to encourage and inspire! This bookshop is the CLC bookshop in Coventry. Doesn’t it just make you want to go shopping? 🙂
Do support Christian bookshops, they do a great job. Thanks to Eddie Olliffe for the photo.
Interview
Clive Lewis, author of The City Kid, was interviewed for the latest trade magazine, Together. This is a great opportunity to showcase the book to retailers; we are grateful to all in the trade who support us.
The main aim of this particular book is evangelism. Would your church teens like to give a copy each to a friend for Christmas? Great to get them involved in reaching out to their peers. One reviewer wrote:
“I was thoroughly drawn in by the story . . . John’s redemption in particular was sensitively handled and felt entirely believable, rather than skidding sideways into the story and breaking the spell.”
According to recent reports, an estimated 1 in 12 to 1 in 15 young people self harm. By the age of 13, at least 50% of girls are significantly unhappy with their appearance, suicide rates are rising alarmingly among young men, and knife/gun crime are at their highest levels ever (another lad was stabbed to death recently near us – yet another appalling tragedy) . . . but 75% of Christians first came to know the Lord when they were young. We must do what we can while we can; there is a fight for the lives of our young people. We can’t guarantee any of our books will change anyone’s life, but we just don’t know what the Lord might do, and we can’t sit about doing nothing. Read more about The City Kid here.
Second BBG in Croatian
This arrived in the post a week or two ago when Eleanor and I were struggling with a virus; it really cheered us up! It’s the second in the Beech Bank Girls series to be translated and printed in Croatian. 🙂 So exciting to know that girls for whom English is not their first language will be able to enjoy these books. Please pray that many girls will read and be inspired. Please also pray for Michelle, who is undertaking the Greek translation project. She needs a Greek proof-reader – if you have any contacts, please let us know!
Please Help!
Facebook is a good way to get known, but I need your help! Would you be kind enough to go over to our fb page, ‘like’, comment on and share the ‘books for Christmas’ posts I am putting up every day? Every interaction means the post is seen by more people . . . thank you so much. They look like this:
Need a Speaker?
I gave a talk at a local church’s ‘Tuesday Fellowship’ a couple of weeks ago. It was lovely to talk to the older generation about our books and share the Dernier vision. I spend a lot of time at the computer, so it’s a treat for me to see real faces :-). If you would like me to talk to your group, please ask!
Church Library
From an email: “I came to your stall at the CRE exhibition in Maidstone last month, and think of you as quite a discovery. My 13 year-old granddaughter read through all four books about the Beech Bank Girls in the half term week that she stayed with me; she was riveted.”
Rosemary bought several of our books for her church library – she says, “I didn’t want preachy books, or Moral Stories, but I did want books that would introduce, or deepen, our young people’s understanding of God, and of His place in their lives, whilst at the same time telling a good strong story.”
Thank you for getting in touch, Rosemary, and thanks to all who pray – more books have found a good home! Thrilling to think that over the years many children might read these books. Do you have a church library?
Books for Prisoners’ Children
A further 100 copies of Beech Bank Girls, Christmas is Coming, are making their way to prisoners’ children via the Angel Tree arm of the Prison Fellowship. We sent 150 last month, but they have already gone and have requested more! Thank you to all who prayed – don’t stop! If you would like to buy a copy of this fab book for a vulnerable girl you know, please visit your local Christian bookshop or here on our website. We would be delighted to help you!
I think that’s all the news for now. By the grace of God, and thanks to your support, more books are going out than ever, but there is still much to be done. Please keep praying for us and for all the children who read our books – and don’t forget to buy some!
If your girls were touched this weekend by Remembrance Day events and services, they might like Beech Bank Girls, A Time Remembered. Willow finds a 100-year-old diary, written by a girl their own age. Sensitively written and fascinating . . . plus the girls have lots of fun as usual!
Christmas is the perfect time to give Christian books to all the children on your heart. Do you know a child who is struggling with a home, family, school or personal issue? Your gift of a book could bring hope and light in the darkness. Concerned for your Sunday School children? So many are leaving church. Your gift of a relevant, fun book could show the way and bring life.
All Dernier books have the aim of encouraging and inspiring their readers. Who could you reach out to this Christmas? Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.” Giving them a Christian book is allowing them to do that.
We have a lovely selection of books for 8s to teens. Do take a look; if you need any help choosing, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Always glad to help. 🙂
Delighted to receive this review of The City Kid from a local youth minister:
“I read The City Kid over summer and it was a brilliant read! It was relevant, contemporary and well written. I think that most people will identify with the lead character; and would also like to have a friend like his! It was good that the book didn’t shy away from peer pressure and the dangers of drink and how hurt you can be if you have sex before marriage/ a committed relationship. The print was the right font and it was a nice, pleasant read. I will definitely be buying some copies for my youth group.” 🙂
I hope that might encourage you to buy a book or two for the teenage boys in your life! 🙂 As always, you can buy from your local Christian bookshop, or direct from us.
P.S. The font and book design are dyslexia friendly. We’re going to be keeping a similar style for all our books from now on. I’ll put up a photo of the printed page, inside, so you can see it. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!
All You Need is New Sofas!
I know we haven’t reached Christmas yet, but the ads on telly have already begun . . . and just in case you haven’t heard, I’d better tell you that all you need for the perfect Christmas is, apparently, new sofas! All at irresistible prices, of course . . .
Mmmm. Thank goodness there was once a perfect Christmas, when our dear Lord and Saviour was born for us, to bring us life, hope, light in our darkness, perfect love, freedom from sin and death. And it wasn’t in a room with new sofas.
I know it’s early, but I’m not only pondering Christmas because of the adverts . . . 150 copies of Eleanor Watkins’ Beech Bank Girls, Christmas is Coming are now on their way to Angel Tree (part of the Prison Fellowship) who will pass on the books as Christmas presents from prisoners to their children. You can read more about the brilliant work of Angel Tree here. We are so thrilled to be able to help. Joanna, who coordinates the project, has asked us to pray for the girls who will be reading the books and I’ve assured her that we will. Many prisoners’ children will have no church background, so the stories of Holly, Amber, Chloe, Annie, Rachel and Willow have the potential to touch many young lives and assure readers that they are beautiful, valued and precious in God’s sight. We may never know on this earth, but who knows what may be revealed in heaven (without a sofa in sight!)?
Gifts Just in case you are starting to think about Christmas gifts yourself, you can buy a pack of four Beech Bank Girls books for £21.56; a pack of two mystery adventure books for £9.88; a pack of three ‘Rwanda’ books for £16.77, and a fabulous pack of fourteen books for a family with children of various ages from 8-16 for £75.47 (perfect for book loving families who can’t afford to buy books for themselves). They are weird prices because they are 10% off the cost of buying the books separately! All our books are, of course, also for sale in Christian bookshops (who may have other offers – always worth a look).
If you would like 20 or more books for your Sunday School or Kids Club, contact me for quantity discounts. If you have any special requirements, or children who you would like us to pray for, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Good News From Africa!
You may have seen on our facebook page that a local minister took some books for us to a desperately poor school in Zambia, where most of the children are orphans or vulnerable. Apparently they were overjoyed to receive them! We are so grateful to Martyn for taking them in his suitcase. May the Lord bless every one of these precious children, and may the good news of Jesus bring hope and new life to their lives.
A handful of our books are also going to be taken to disadvantaged children in schools in Kenya via Dr. Loise Gichuhi of Education Bridge Africa. I’m waiting to hear which of the books she thinks would be the most useful, and would love to be able to send more. I sent the books via Royal Mail and was encouraged to hear they arrived safely.
Dernier is all about getting books with the message of the good news into the hands of young people. If there’s anything we can do to help you reach the young people on your heart, please let me know and we’ll see if we can work something out. Time and time again, the Lord has made a way where there seems to be no way – when we work together so much more is possible.
Isn’t it just so encouraging to see our books, with the message of the good news, reaching children in need? And there’s another new country our books have reached . . .
Helping Persecuted Christians
Last month we had a visit from a pastor from an Asian country who had been imprisoned for his faith. I gave him a couple of our books: he was so thrilled he has asked for more! He is now back in his own country. We received an email from him a few days ago: He is currently reading ‘I Want to Be an Airline Pilot’ to his three young boys! Please do pray for this little family, that they will stay strong in their faith in spite of all the difficulties they face. Thank you so much. Sorry I can’t give names or places. It’s thrilling to hear of our books reaching children all over the world – and so much is because of your prayers and support.
Christian Resources Together I had a good time last month at the retreat event for publishers/suppliers and retailers in the UK Christian book trade (Christian Resources Together). Please pray for Christian bookshops – they do a great job. It was good to show them our new book, The City Kid, meet lots of old friends, make new ones, and work on ways we can help each other. The City Kid is being featured in next month’s trade magazine, and I have been asked to write a short piece, too. It’s a privilege to be a part of the Christian trade in this country.
New ebook
I have put 50 quick writing tips into a kindle book: if you write fiction for children and teens, or would like to, you can get this book free until Saturday (7th). Click here for Amazon UK. Click here for Amazon.com. (You can read kindle books on any device with Amazon’s free app.) If you would be kind enough to leave a review, it would help enormously – thanks very much.
Help!
Like to help but don’t need books right now? Here are some things you could do:
1. Come over to our facebook page and comment on, like and share posts. The more engagement each post receives, the more people see it – exponentially!
2. We covet your prayers – please pray for the children who read our books and for everyone involved in Dernier. Thank you so much.
3. Write a review of a book you or your children have read on the Eden website, Amazon, Goodreads, on our own website, or just email it to me! Reviews help us get known.
4. Send in a photo of your child/children reading – not only would we find that so encouraging, but a picture tells a thousand words when it comes to publicity. 🙂
5. Tell someone about what we do.
6. If you would like to donate books for Education Bridge Africa, let me know. If you buy the books, we will pay for shipping. Boxes of books come in different quantities – Living in Hope come in boxes of 170, Beech Bank Girls II come in boxes of 100, and most are in between those two, but if you would just like to send one or two, or one of our packs (see above) we can do that, too. Just let me know.
Thanks so much for all your support and help! This has been such an encouraging newsletter to write – so many good stories. Little by little we are taking ground. It’s a battle, and we have to fight for every step, but it’s worth it. Thank you for standing with us, because we don’t need new sofas anything like as much as we need to pass on the good news of Jesus.
One thing we all have in common, is freedom of choice. Given a Christian book, young readers can think through issues for themselves, such as homelessness, child-led families, answered prayer, people trafficking, body image, corruption, becoming a Christian. (The Only Way, Living in Hope, I Want to Be an Airline Pilot, The Treasure Hunt, the Beech Bank Girls, The City Kid, The Birthday Shoes.) The same is true for church and non-church children. Stories can be a tool for the Holy Spirit to work through. Let’s not underestimate the power of a good story to inspire!
If your children don’t read, why not read to them? Don’t live with them? No worries, you can do it now on Skype, or even with the new facebook face time app!
Unhappy Girls
According to the Children’s Society Annual Report, a massive 34% of 10-15 year-old girls in the UK are unhappy with their appearance – and the number continues to rise. This article from the BBC news website is very well worth a read if this issue concerns you.
If you know a girl this age who needs some encouragement, why not buy her a set of the Beech Bank Girls books? You can buy them from your local Christian bookshops or direct from this link. You may never know what good they will do! And don’t let’s forget to pray for our precious young people, growing up with so many pressures.
The Dernier Bird
Thank you to Lucy who drew the Dernier bird and coloured it in so beautifully, and her Mum who kindly sent it to me. What a lovely surprise! This is the Dernier bird who is singing in Jesus’ ear, as mentioned in last month’s newsletter . . . if you missed it you can read it here. 🙂
If you have an encouraging story, or a photo of your children reading Dernier books, please do send them in – it’s always such a pleasure to hear from you. Some days and weeks are full of hard work and headaches, and hearing an encouraging story is guaranteed to lift the spirits. 🙂
Books to Africa
Some of our books are off to Lufutuko Community School in Zambia at the weekend! A local church minister is flying out and has made room in his luggage for about 20 books – thank you Martyn. 🙂 The township of Kawama, on the outskirts of Kabwe, Zambia, is a poor community, so we are delighted to be able to help with books. If you know anyone going out to Africa or India, or anywhere where education is highly valued but books scarce, would you ask them to take a few books? If we can help, please don’t hesitate to contact me for discounts or to raid our seconds box!
First Chapters
If you would like a pdf to download/print of all the first chapters of our books, please sign up to receive this newsletter. I hope this resource will help you choose, because you can’t flick through a book online! (You can of course browse our books in Christian bookshops.) 🙂
Talking of Christian bookshops, I will be at a trade event later this week, where Christian publishers will be meeting Christian retailers and authors. Please pray for a fruitful time – we are all working towards the same aim of getting as many Christian books and resources into as many hands as we can. Thank you!
Write for a Reason
The new Write for a Reason course began last week – I run this course for anyone who writes for children and young people from a Christian perspective, and wants to improve their writing skills. Please pray for the students! Just in case you’re interested, we also have a monthly membership programme and lots of free writing tips on the website.
The City Kid
I’m running out of room, but don’t forget to buy your copies of our new book, The City Kid, for all the teens you know. Because of my mum’s illness and subsequent death (thank you so much for all your kind messages and cards), I haven’t done anything like as much promotion as I planned, so please do pray this book will reach the young people who really need to read this story. Could your teen buy a copy for a friend? Click here for more info about the book.
Janet Wilson, Founder of Dernier Publishing
Thank you for reading this far – and for all your support. Please keep praying for us, and for all our readers!
We all pass through rough times, but one thing we can always rely on, is that the Lord will be with us. Some of you who have been Christians for a long time may now have the song which inspires the headline of this newsletter going round your heads! For those of you who don’t know it, it goes like this:
When the road is rough and steep
Fix your eyes upon Jesus
He alone has power to keep
Fix your eyes upon him.
Jesus is a faithful friend
One on whom you can depend
He is faithful to the end
Fix your eyes upon Him!
What a wonderful promise. If you’re climbing a tough path today, keep walking, one step at a time . . . the view from the top will be worth it! We’re not promised an easy life, but we are promised help, strength, light, peace and joy, andthe presence of the Holy Spirit with uson the way. Let’s keep walking. 🙂
At last The City Kid is with us!
Production of this book has, indeed, been a rough, steep road. Even the shipping took three times longer than anticipated, but the books are here – no longer a dream but now a reality! Thank you so much for all your prayers – all we have to do now is get them into the hands of teenagers . . .
We only did a small print run because we used a printer in Croatia for the first time and I didn’t want to take a big risk . . . please pray the books will sell really quickly. If you would like some, please get hold of your copies now (contact me for quantity discounts) so we can plough back into producing more. Imagine a world filled with Christian books! Imagine if everyone bought books for all the young people they know! Imagine the difference it could make in so many lives! Please keep praying with me for this vision to be fulfilled – we know that the Lord is able to do vastly more than we can think or even imagine.
We can’t promise that any of our books will change lives, but that’s not our job – ours is to share the good news. Every single one of us can be a youth worker. If you don’t know any young people to buy for personally, we can send copies of The City Kid to Scripture Union in Uganda on your behalf, or to schools in Kenya where books are enormously treasured for two reasons – to help children rise out of poverty through literacy, as well as to spread the good news of Jesus.
Two more teenage boys have died this month in London from stab wounds.
According to an article in the Guardian, knife crime in the capital has risen by 16% in the past two years, with at least ten young people dying on the streets of London in this way since January. What a tragedy. These lads are someone’s children, grandchildren and brothers. You can read the story of the latest two deaths (a few days ago) here.
If you know anyone in youth ministry in London, please do let them know about this book. I would love to get this book into the hands of non-church teenagers in this country. Every single one should have the opportunity to hear the good news. Pressures on them are immense – if it’s not gangs it’s school work and exam pressure, alcohol and substance abuse, financial difficulties, family breakdown, worldliness and consumerism, peer pressure to fit in, low self-esteem. The City Kid, being loosely based on the parable of the prodigal son, is particularly aimed at reaching those who need to turn their lives around, and need to know who to turn to.
If you do school assemblies for teens, visit young offenders, run a youth club, teach 13s to 18s or have teen neighbours, please consider getting this book into the hands of the young people on your heart. It is a gritty story which holds no punches. The main character, John, enjoys his life in the city to begin with. He has a beautiful girlfriend, enjoys nightclubs, drinking, nights in hotels and his fast car. Gradually the fun turns to misery, though, as he falls into debt and becomes involved in corruption at work. After losing his girlfriend to a rich young politician, he goes to a bar looking to drown his sorrows, but is beaten up, has his car and wallet stolen and left for dead. Subsequently losing his job and home, John sees no way out of his desperation and tries to end his own life, but is miraculously spared. His life begins to turn around after a ‘chance’ meeting with a Christian friend and a visit to a gospel rock concert.
This is a book of hope.
Updated Online Catalogue and Leaflets
I have updated our online catalogue with The City Kid: please do pass it on to anyone you think might be interested. We must keep sowing seeds while we can. Click here for the online Dernier catalogue. Don’t forget the books are all available from your local Christian bookshop as well as from our website.
I’ve also had some new leaflets printed. They are A6 and two-sided. Let me know and I’ll send out however many you like. Thank you!
Encouragement from a supporter via email
And now for something completely different! I love it when I open my emails in the morning to find a book order or an encouragement of some sort. Here’s an email I thought I would share with you, as it’s really an encouragement for us all: “To encourage you I would just share with you a picture the Lord gave me. He showed me a little bird perched on his finger, the bird was singing beautifully into Jesus ear. Jesus was smiling and taking great delight in the sound the bird was making. As I looked closer I could see the bird was the little Dernier bird! And, looking closer still, the bird was made up of many pieces like a jigsaw. The pieces represented all the writers and everyone who is a part of Dernier Publishing. Together what they had to say was like music to the Lord’s ear! ‘We love you Lord and we lift our voice to worship you. Oh our hearts rejoice. Take joy our King in what you hear, let it be a sweet sweet sound in your ear.'”
Thank you, Juliet.
Lastly
A bit of personal news. Thank you to all who have been praying for my mum. She passed away quietly on 31st July. I saw her every day for the last few days of her life, and prayed with her the last time I saw her before she lost consciousness. The photo is of Mum at our wedding five years ago. Her funeral will be next Tuesday. As you can imagine, work has had to take a secondary place in the last few weeks. Please accept my apologies if you have been expecting to hear from me – I am running late with just about everything. Special apologies to those of you who bought copies of The City Kid to review – I meant to email you all to let you know your copy was in the post, but didn’t quite get round to it. I very much look forward to hearing from you.
I first started writing Christian fiction for young people when I couldn’t find novels to buy for the kids in our church youth club (11-14s) from a non-church background. I was looking for something fast moving, fun, where it was normal to be a Christian – where faith was part of the story. Then I discovered that nobody was publishing books like that! That’s when the idea of starting Dernier Publishing really took hold – and it started with The Treasure Hunt.
Now we have fifteen books by six authors, and more on the way. 🙂 God is good.
We now have a free pdf download of all the first chapters of our novels, to help you choose! Simply fill in the boxes with your name and email address and we will send you the link. You can print off the download, or read it on any device.
We are delighted to inform you that The City Kid is now with us!
Shipping was delayed, but now you can order as many copies as you like. 🙂
You may notice that for the first time we have used a dyslexia-friendly font, with more space between lines and letters, to help those who find reading more of a challenge. We hope this will open up the story to many teenagers.
This novel holds out the truth of the gospel within a fast-moving, gripping story of one young man’s search for the meaning to life. Click on the book below for more details.
Do tell your youth leaders, Sunday School teachers, friends and family who visit prisons and young offenders units, school workers and anyone who runs youth work – stories can touch lives in a way that nothing else can.
Andrew and I walked to Easedale Tarn from Grasmere when we were on holiday last month in the Lake District. We found the walk in a brochure which pronounced it ‘easy’. Great, we thought, a nice easy walk – and the scenery looked wonderful. Well, the scenery was wonderful, and it may be an easy walk by some people’s standards, but for me it was really hard work! It was a steep climb in places, over a rough path, on a really hot day. In places you have to clamber up and over rocks with sheer drops to one side. We could have done with lighter clothes, walking boots instead of trainers and a big bar of Kendal mint cake. 🙂 I had to stop to get my breath back from time to time – and the worst part – getting over a brow of a hill thinking we had reached the tarn, then realising there was still another hill to climb! Still, we did eventually reach the peaceful waters (photo is proof!).
Sometimes in life we have to step out in faith, not knowing all there is to know, not knowing how challenging a task will be, but keeping the destination in mind. Isn’t life like this, my friends? It’s certainly the story of Dernier Publishing!
New Book
I told you last month that Eleanor Watkins is writing a new book for us. Here’s the blurb so far: “Rebecca and Jade are both sixteen and come from very different backgrounds, but against all the odds they have become friends. When one of them becomes pregnant, both find they are faced with choices that could affect their own lives and those of others in ways that are more far-reaching than they could imagine. Will their friendship be strong enough to survive the difficulties ahead?” This book will be for teens, due to the more adult content. As usual, Eleanor writes with sensitivity, fun and drama, and keeps readers guessing till the end. But the serious issue of the consequences of choices we make is woven in from a Christian perspective. This book has great potential to touch lives. Please pray!
So Nearly There With The City Kid!
Thanks so much to those of you who have ordered the paperback version of The City Kid to review. As soon as copies arrive I will send them out to you – I’m expecting them any day. If you would like a pdf or jpg copy of the poster to print out for your shop or school, please let me know. I’m a bit nervous about this book, as it’s the first time I have dealt with the typesetter and designer direct, instead of going through a third party. The printing is costing us more than bargained for, too, due to the change in euro/sterling exchange rate, but may the Lord use it anyway!
If you know anyone who is going out to Africa this summer, would you consider taking some books with you, or sending some to a school or children’s home you support? We hear over and over again about children in schools in poor areas who are desperate for books – and what better than Christian novels?
Sharing the Wealth!
Here’s a lovely photo to encourage you! This little chap is reading A Pennyworth of Peppermints. His Mum said in an email to Mary (author), “Thank you very much for Ricky’s book, it was a lovely surprise when it arrived. He hasn’t put it down since and is enjoying reading it. He even took it into school.” (Name changed for confidentiality.) If you have a photo of your child reading one of our books, please send it in, we’d love to see it!
Posters
Anyone like a pack of these? I know they’ve been around for a while, but I’ve only just thought of putting them up on the website as a pack of four. Four posters (one of each) at the special price of £6.99, post free to UK addresses. Great to give away to children at holiday clubs. Click here to find them on our website. If you would like more than one pack, contact me for quantity discounts or postage rates abroad.
Visiting the West Country?
Mary Weeks Millard writes, “I am looking forward to two events in August. The first is Wareham Flower Festival, in Dorset. The Flowers at Lady St. Mary Church are always spectacular, and inside the church hall, besides lovely lunches and cream teas, there is a great bookstall. I will be there on Friday August 12th from 10am – 3pm signing copies of all my books, both for adults and children. If you are in the area, do come and see me!
The second event, is at Weymouth. Monday August 15th – Friday 19th, at Weymouth Bay Methodist Church there is an arts and crafts week. Included in this is a table of my books – they will be available for sale, and I hope to be around some times throughout the week. Once again, there will be refreshments for sale – and it is Carnival week – so there will be a lot to enjoy in the town.”
Do pop in and see Mary if you can; a signed book makes a special gift. 🙂
Mary also writes, “My church family, (St. Aldhelm’s, Radipole, Weymouth) have just had a book Sunday for the children who attend. The Junior age group were allowed to look at the books I have written for children of their age group and choose a title. They love to be able to choose their own! It is a wonderful way to get Christian books into the hands of children. Maybe this is something your church could do? They are not given as prizes, just as presents for the children.”
Big drum rum roll please! All four of Eleanor’s Beech Bank Girls books are now available in Braille and large print versions! Thanks to the Torch Trust, these books are available at just £5.99 per copy, the same as the standard books. Orders can be made by calling the Torch Trust Client Services team on 01858 438260. We are delighted to help make accessible versions available to girls with sight loss.
Yippee Testimony!
A lady posted on the Dernier facebook page: “After reading The Birthday Shoes, (my then) 10yr old daughter said she wanted to know Jesus just like the girl in the story. Two years ago at age 12, she was baptised and confirmed.”
Thank you so much to all of you who pray. Testimonies like this make all the hard work worthwhile! Maybe one day we will meet children in heaven who have read our books. I dare to dream. 🙂
If you would like to give this book away to girls in your Guides group, Girls’ Brigade or other clubs, contact me for quantity discounts, I would love to help you (and if you want books for boys I can help with that, too!). And don’t forget you can get all our books from your local Christian bookshop.
Who knows what seeds you might be sowing?
On that note I will leave you, with huge grateful thanks, as always, for your kind support,
Janet
P.S. Always happy to share the Dernier story with your ladies meeting or writing circle. 🙂
At our weekly church prayer meeting on Saturday, we read Psalm 46, about the Lord being our refuge and strength and a very present help in times of trouble. Whatever is happening around us, our trust is in God – he is our fortress. So easy to say when all is going well! I was in the Lake District on holiday a couple of weeks ago and the peace and beauty were breathtaking.
Since coming back from holiday, my Mum’s health has taken a turn for the worse. Her doctor has taken her off all medication and she’s not expected to live long. Changes are afoot in our church leadership. Printing of The City Kid (in Croatia) is now costing more due to changes in exchange rates. Changes in the UK government are coming thick and fast, and I’m not even going to mention the football! Plus the manager of a bookshop in a church I contacted recently told me, “Unfortunately, we have a taken a conscious decision here not to offer children’s fiction titles through the Bookshop and so would not be interested in purchasing such titles from Dernier Publishing.”
Things can get us down. But at the end of the day our trust is in God alone – even if the mountains fall into the raging sea he is our peace. Whatever happens, he has it all in hand. Phew!
End of Term
Don’t forget to order your books in good time for Sunday School prizes. Why not buy books for children in uniformed organisations this year, or to give to school leavers? Christian books give young people (and their families) the chance to think about life and issues from a Christian perspective. You never know what your gift could do! We must cast our bread upon the waters. If you would like to discuss quantity discounts, please email me. Always happy to help get books into children’s hands. You can see all our books here and you can of course buy them from bookshops.
The City Kid
At last the file is with the printer! Please pray for the process. We very much look forward to bringing you this excellent book.
Dernier Publishing Authors
We now have a Dernier Publishing Authors page on facebook!
I hope it will help you get to know Mary, Eleanor, Denise, Clive and Gareth better. 🙂 Please do come over and join us, and if you have any questions about the writing process or about any of the books, feel free to ask away. Click here to see the page.
Beech Bank Girls
Did I mention last month that Torch Trust are going to bring out all the Beech Bank Girls stories in large print and Braille? We are so pleased to be able to help in this way, to make our stories accessible to girls with sight loss. Whoopee, potential for more children to be reached with the good news of Jesus! If you would like to know more, please don’t hesitate to contact me, or the Torch Trust direct.
Christian Writing Course
The next Write for a Reason course starts next week! If you know anyone who might be interested in writing for children and young people, please click this link for more information.
Apology to Christian Bookshop Retailers
Big apology – either when I updated to Windows 10 or changed my email programme, I lost my ‘group’ retailer emails, so any info I have been sending you about our books (advance info etc) will not have reached you. This is gutting and I will need to re-build my retailer email list. It would help enormously if you are a retailer, to reply to this, so I can make sure you receive retailer news as well as these general newsletters. Thank you so much for your help and support.
Sneak Peak into the Future!
We have more books in the pipeline! One is by Eleanor Watkins about two girls, one of whom finds herself pregnant. The story deals with issues and choices girls face from a Christian perspective. Another book from a new author is about a girl who is bullied, but finds new life. Gareth Rowe is writing a sequel to The Only Way. So much potential! However, we need to sell what we have in order to have the finances to produce more. Would you like to give a book a new home? I have a stack of poor sad books stacked up in my office that need good homes! Hehe. If you don’t have children to buy for, I can send your gift on to children like these in Kenya who are desperate for reading material.
25 Reasons to offer Christian fiction to young people
1. Stories stick in your mind (Jesus told stories for a reason!)
2. Christian books are a great way to share the good news.
3. Young people can reflect on subjects such as prayer, justice and forgiveness, for themselves.
4. Church kids find it thrilling to find Christian characters in a ‘real’ story!
5. Christian fiction helps church children feel less marginalised.
6. Books written from a Christian perspective can be an eye-opener for non-church young people, and can bring hope.
7. Stories are much more exciting to read than straight information!
8. We are influenced by what we put into our minds; Christian books contain Christian values.
9. Books help readers think about spiritual and moral issues.
10. Christian characters can be inspiring in the way they win through in different situations.
11. Ideas that come up in stories help us to evaluate our own lives.
12. Modern Christian fiction is culturally relevant (and exciting!).
13. Young people can find out how Bible stories are applicable to their own lives.
14. Books make non-threatening presents for non-church families.
15. They aid literacy (they are books!); Christian books have the added bonus of a spiritual dimension.
16. Children desperate for an education can learn about God’s love while they read.
17. Christian books make non-threatening gifts where spiritual input may otherwise be impossible.
18. Reading a Christian novel with your children is great for bonding.
19. You can discuss biblical issues that Christian books bring up, helping you to fulfil your duties as a Christian parent/grandparent/teacher!
20. Christian books can sow seeds that will bear fruit in years to come.
21. Not all books out there are helpful – Christian books are a fabulous alternative.
22. Christian books bring up current issues, such as modern day slavery, from a Christian perspective.
23. Christian fiction can encourage and inspire young people to walk with God, even church kids who are bored with Bible stories
24. We have received many testimonies of how our books have touched lives – some children are drawn to Christian books.
25. Every child is precious, and should have a chance to hear the good news in a way that is relevant to them.
Sorry it’s a very late newsletter! Just a few quick bit of news to keep you up to speed with all that’s new . . .
Over the last few weeks I’ve loved watching the new sparrow babies running round after their parents. They are so cute! The sparrows in my garden are also a constant reminder of God’s love and care for us. As I was breaking up an old crust of bread for them the other day, a thought came to me – God cares for the sparrows, and he is using me. It was quite an awesome thought! In the same way, our books are being used by our Heavenly Father to feed his children. That’s truly staggering, because if we don’t, what will happen? We can’t tell – perhaps the birds in my garden would be fine without my seed and stale ends of loaves, and perhaps our children would be fine without Dernier books . . . but what if they’re not? What if we could have saved a life?
Groosham Grange – Horror For Kids Have you read Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz? It’s not a new book, but by a popular author. I read it over the weekend, and found it disturbing – it’s about a boy called David who goes to a strange school and wants to get away at first because the teachers are dead, the pupils all wear black rings and vanish at night. There’s mild horror involved; it’s not a book for sensitive children. At the end, David finds running away isn’t going to work and joins the rest of the pupils and teachers in their magic, because he is the seventh son of a seventh son, so he ‘has no choice’. It’s purely fiction, of course, and is written in a light-hearted way – still, it makes me more determined than ever to get our books into as many children’s hands as possible. How much better for children to read about God’s love and truth in a fun story? While I’m here, many thanks to all the Christian bookshops who stock our books and recommend them to customers. Sorry I haven’t made it to a bookshop this month, but you can find your nearest one here.
Do You Have a Child Leaving Primary School?
If you have a child leaving Primary School at the end of term, how about buying a pack of Christian books for the school library, or your child’s classroom, as a leaving present? We have a pack of 14 books with 10% off the R.R.P. on our website. If you can’t afford this, what about clubbing together with other Christian parents? Books in a library have the potential to touch many young lives.
P.S. You can of course also order all our books from Christian bookshops. Follow the link above to find one near you.
Ditto for Sunday School Gifts
I know these have gone out of fashion in many churches, but what a wasted opportunity! If you are in a position to change things – do! If you would like any help, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Quick Thought
Do you have refugee children in your neighbourhood, school or church? This fab book for girls includes a Christian response to newcomers – the Beech Bank Girls (Making a Difference) find out that they can all make a difference to a Romanian girl who joins their class. Definitely worth the £5.99 price tag! Teachers, this would be a great book to have on your bookshelves.
Are Children Still Reading? One of the biggest reasons people tell me they don’t buy our books is that they don’t think children are reading. Some don’t unless they absolutely have to! However, according to a recent report (summer 2015), 34% of children aged 6–17 read books for fun 5–7 days a week and 58% read books for fun, but less frequently. That’s a lot of children, and a lot of books – plus the stats don’t cover the children who are read to by parents or grandparents. And there’s another thing: we have had reports of children reading our books who don’t usually read – we can only put this down to the Holy Spirit at work! So if you were thinking about buying a book for a child and shrugging it off with the thought, well, they might not read it and it would be a waste of money, you could be right. But you could be wrong! Why not just go for it? It might not even be read now, but if it’s on the shelf it might get read when the child is ill, or bored . . . or a sibling might read it in years to come . . . the possibilities are endless!
I’ve Run Out of Room!
Just quickly – The City Kid will be with us soon – please pray for the printing process!
Love and thanks to you all for your support,
Springing Back
I love this time of the year! Haven’t we had some beautiful sunny days? (Hope you have too if you’re not in the UK!) I love the feeling of hope, the warmth of the sun, watching new leaves unfurl.
Some of our garden plants have come in for a battering though. One has been eaten by slugs, another blasted by footballers (oops!) and my new anemone now has no flowers as they were picked off by our two-year-old grandson! 🙂
The plants should all recover though, which reminds me how we should keep on and not give up, no matter what obstacles hit. I’m on a learning curve with production of The City Kid – we have previously used a production company for our books, but to save costs I have undertaken to take on the process myself, and there’s plenty to learn! Sales for the last Beech Bank Girls book (A Time Remembered) we brought out last year haven’t been as high as I had hoped, either – I feel I should have done more to market it, because this is a really excellent book (if you would like to buy one or more copies for the girls in your life you can do so here or visit your local Christian bookshop). So many more girls need to hear the message of God’s love for them and this book would be such a help. Please do keep praying for all our projects, and that our books will reach the children who need them. Thank you!
Some Excellent News! We are running out of stock of A Pennyworth of Peppermints! We could do a reprint if there was enough interest – would your church like to give them away to children after a holiday club or for Sunday School prizes in the summer? This book would be the perfect gift for 8-11s, boys and girls (grandparents love this story too as it was set in the Great War!), and can reach whole families. It’s a spy story set in Dorset – a group of children foil a dastardly plot. 🙂 There’s a wealth of interesting information about the war, some great characters and the children learn to trust in God. Let me know if you’re interested.
Books for Sunday School Prize Giving Talking about prize giving, would you be kind enough to pass on info of our books to your Sunday School leaders – prize giving is coming up soon! If your church doesn’t usually give books, as one who knows the value of Christian stories to change lives (you must be or you wouldn’t be reading this!), could you take the bull by the horns and organise something yourself? Maybe you are where you are for such a time as this! If money is an issue, could you ask your congregation to sponsor one book each and pray for the child who will receive the one they have donated? Please contact me for quantity discounts, or if I can help in any other way.
The City Kid Work on the paperback version of The City Kid is continuing. It’s so exciting seeing it come together, despite taking longer than anticipated. I needed some reviews for the back of the cover and sent off the manuscript to a handful of teenage boys. To encourage you, here is the first review I received back, from a seventeen-year-old lad:
“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.
When I started reading the book, I didn’t connect with the story until his life took a turn for the worse, and then I started to reflect.
A moment that particularly stood out was John’s re-occurring dream about being trapped in the mineshaft, but when he finds God his dream changes and he is gently lifted out into the light.
I felt that reading this book has strengthened my faith, as I have realised that I need to rely on God a bit more when life gets tough, and not to blame others for my own mistakes.” – Samuel.
Samuel’s mum told me, “I actually feel quite choked after talking to Sam about the book, as it has really seemed to help him at what is a quite difficult time in his own life.”
Life is tough for many teenagers. In the last few months our eighteen-year-old son has the stress of A levels looming up, has lost a friend to cancer and one of his peers committed suicide by hanging himself in a local park. Teenagers are victims of knife crime, bullying, gangs, have family issues, school issues, friend issues, exam issues – they need all the encouragement they can get. Temptations within and without are constant and many families are experiencing financial pressure, too.
Why not stop right now and pray for a teenage lad you know? They may look fine on the outside, but the Lord knows what pressures they are under. If you would like to pre-order one copy of The City Kid or a hundred, please let me know – it will help when ordering from the printers, and it means you won’t have to wait so long for your copies.
Write for a Reason The next Write for a Reason course for Christians who write fiction for young people, starts next month. Click here for more info. Please do pass on the link to anyone you know who might be interested, as this is a good way to 1. Help budding authors 2. Make some money to help with book production. I know for sure that one previous student has a book published, another has gone on to produce a comic, another has just won a writing competition. And the course is lots of fun. 🙂
Let’s Pray for Our Government
Two issues concerning Christian freedom and young people make me feel like we really need to pray. The first is our government’s plans to register and monitor church youth work. You can read about it here from the Christian Institute.
The second concerns a father, from a Muslim background, who has been banned from taking his nine-year-old son to a church, after the child’s Muslim mother won a court order preventing the boy from attending. More information from Christian Concern here.
The Bible tells us to pray for those in positions of authority (1 Timothy 2:1-4): “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (NIV)
So let’s pray! Please do feel free to share the links.
Visit Your Bookshop! This is Selena, the new manager of the Christian bookshop in Tonbridge, Kent, with a selection of our books – do pop in and say hello if you are in the area! The address is 9 Quarry Hill Parade, Tonbridge, TN9 2HR. This bookshop was in danger of closing when the previous owner retired, but CLC (Christian Literature Crusade) stepped in – they do need your support, though, too! They have a great selection of books, gifts and music.
Stop Press!
I have just heard that Kristofori in Croatia want to produce our second and third Beech Bank Girls books in Croatian! This is exciting news indeed. Thanks to all who pray!
Right, that really is it! Love to you all, and thanks for reading and supporting,
Torch Trust* has made some of our books available in Braille, audio and large print versions for anyone who needs a bit of extra help to enjoy stories.
The first of the Beech Bank Girls books, Deepest Darkness and A Pennyworth of Peppermints are available in large print, audio and Braille format. Torch Trust can produce any of these books in Large Print in 17pt; 20pt; 25pt; & 30pt if requested. (Please follow the links above for more information about each of these books.)
In case you were wondering, Dernier provides the text to Torch Trust free of charge. We believe children with sight loss should have to opportunity to enjoy Christian stories!
According to statistics, 90% of adults attended church as children. With that in mind, it’s obvious that we urgently need to reach out to our own children! We mustn’t sit back and assume our children will follow in our footsteps – we need to make a serious effort to build them up in their faith while they are young. Talking about the Lord day by day is part our responsibility as Christian parents and grandparents (see Deuteronomy 6:7). Christian books can help do that in a relaxed and natural way.
Krish Kandiah says, “Of every class of 50 nought to nine year-olds in Sunday school in 1985, only 15 will still be going to church in their 20s: we lose 70% of our children.”*
We know that touching hearts is the Lord’s job – but we also have a part to play. If that wasn’t true, we wouldn’t ever need to do any evangelism, we’d just wait for new people to turn up! Can I encourage you to spread our books widely among your own church families? They start at just £4.99. Your input could bring new life this Easter!
P.S. Having a holiday Bible club at Easter? Please give your children a book each to take home. Contact me for quantity discounts.
Books for Schools Page
I have put up a new page on our website – Books For Schools. Thanks to all who prayed after reading last month’s newsletter! I have been phoning school librarians and sending them the link – please pray that schools will take up this offer of a pack of library books at a discount. According to a friend who is a teacher,
“Schools have to show they are promoting diversity and giving opportunities for moral and spiritual development so the books are great for both of these, especially since a large number of students no longer attend church. There is also a big emphasis on literacy, of which reading is a major part.”
If you know a teacher who may be interested, or if you would like to buy a pack of books for your local school, please take a look and/or pass it on. The page is here. And please contact me if you would like to send a pack of books direct to a school abroad – I’d be absolutely delighted to help. 🙂
The City Kid
We are still hoping to get this book out into paperback in the summer – please keep praying. Thank you!
Reviews
Delighted to receive the following in an email: ‘Our great-niece who lives with us and is 8 very much enjoyed The Birthday Shoes and Deepest Darkness and our 11 year old nephew enjoyed The Treasure Hunt and A Pennyworth of Peppermints.’ It’s always so encouraging to receive your feedback so if you have any, please do send it in – a few kind words keep us going on a tough day! 🙂
25 Reasons to buy Christian fiction for children and teenagers
1. Stories stick in your mind (Jesus told stories for a reason!)
2. Christian books are a great way to share the good news.
3. Young people can reflect on subjects such as prayer, justice
and forgiveness, for themselves.
4. Church kids find it thrilling to find Christian characters in a ‘real’ story!
5. Christian fiction helps church children feel less marginalised.
6. Books written from a Christian perspective can be an eye-opener for non-church young people, and can bring hope.
7. Stories are much more exciting to read than straight information!
8. We are influenced by what we put into our minds; Christian books contain Christian values.
9. Books help readers think about spiritual and moral issues.
10. Christian characters can be inspiring in the way they win through in different situations.
11. Ideas that come up in stories help us to evaluate our own lives.
12. Modern Christian fiction is culturally relevant (and exciting!).
13. Young people can find out how Bible stories are applicable to their own lives.
14. Books make non-threatening presents for non-church families.
15. They aid literacy (they are books!); Christian books have the added bonus of a spiritual dimension.
16. Children desperate for an education can learn about God’s love while they read.
17. Christian books make non-threatening gifts where spiritual input may otherwise be impossible.
18. Reading a Christian novel with your children is great for bonding.
19. You can discuss biblical issues that Christian books bring up, helping you to fulfil your duties as a Christian parent/teacher!
20. Christian books can sow seeds that will bear fruit in years to come.
21. Not all books out there are helpful – Christian books are a fabulous alternative.
22. Christian books bring up current issues, such as modern day slavery, from a Christian perspective.
23. Christian fiction can encourage and inspire young people to walk with God, even church kids who are bored with Bible stories
24. We have received many testimonies of how our books have touched lives – some children are drawn to Christian books.
25. Every child is precious, and should have a chance to hear the good news in a way that is relevant to them.
Bookshop
Last but not least, our Christian bookshop of the month is in St Nicholas Church, Sevenoaks, in their Undercroft. The bookshop doubles as a café and is open from 10am – 2pm Monday to Saturday. They didn’t have any Dernier books when I popped in, so I left our details and hope they will soon!
And that’s all for this month! May your Easter be filled with joy!
Janet
P.S. Don’t forget your books for your Easter Holiday Club – I look forward to hearing from you. Click here to contact Janet.
I spoke to a chaplain of a school last week (a school with a Christian ethos, according to their website) who told me that the librarian wouldn’t want Christian books in the library. Books where the characters become druids, commit suicide, perform magic and dance naked are fine – but not characters who pray and go to church, however exciting the story. I don’t suppose for a minute this is a one-off: we need to pray for our schools. And our children. If you think your local school would appreciate a gift of books, why not do it now, while you can? The door seems to be closing.
And now for something completely different!
A mum sent me these photos of her two gorgeous children, who apparently both really enjoyed ‘I want to be an airline pilot’ and ‘Mystery in the Snow’. The young lad was particularly taken aback and thrilled to find Christian characters in a real book, who go to church and are used by God. Thanks to all who pray. It’s so encouraging to know our books are touching children’s lives. Who knows what fruit may come from these seeds?
Support your local Christian bookshop!
I don’t know if you remember me mentioning Christian bookshops last month? Well I thought I’d start a feature, with a different bookshop every month! So here’s the first: it’s my local one, run by Gordon and Barbara Hoppé, serving the Sevenoaks/Orpington area of Kent/SE London. (Thanks to Judith for the photo of the shop and to Jen for agreeing to have her photo taken with our books. :-)) Their address is Sevenoaks Road, Pratt’s Bottom, BR6 7SQ. Yes, you do sometimes pay a bit more in bookshops than if you ordered online, but you might see just the perfect thing for a present – or with some expert advice, find something better than the purchase you intended! When I was in the shop a couple of weeks ago Jen was kind enough to do a quick video review which you can see here. If you are fortunate to still have a Christian bookshop in your locality, do pay them a visit; I’m sure they’d love to see you.
Please pass this on:
I have updated the Dernier online catalogue (this is the link) – please do forward it to your Sunday School teachers, youth workers and any other interested parties. 🙂 Imagine the impact it could have if children all over the country took home Christian books after an event! So children might not be able to read our books in school – hey, we’ll reach them another way!
Book of the Month
Terrorism is in all our thoughts at the moment: I know London’s Gone is quite old, and you may already have it, but I thought I’d offer it this month for the subscriber offer (those of you who can’t get to a Christian bookshop!). If you would like to open the door to talk about terrorism with your young teens, this would be a good book. Find it here. The coupon code for £1 off is SUBSCRIBER. The offer is open to subscribers only, until the end of February, as a thank you for all your support – I hope it will help you reach the children on your heart.
Before I go, please can I can ask you to pray for my elderly mother, who has dementia? She is having mini strokes and fractured her shoulder in a fall recently. It’s not an easy time. Thank you very much.
Happy New Year everyone! May the Lord bless you this year with every blessing in Christ!
Thanks for praying
First of all, thank you all so much for praying during the month of December – I’m truly grateful to all of you who support and encourage in so many ways. Please don’t stop praying, because the Lord is doing amazing miracles, through our prayers. (The prayer requests are still here, in case you’d like to keep praying!) The very first item on the list has now been answered . . . 🙂 🙂 🙂 . . .
Beech Bank Girls, Every Girl Has A Story in Croatian
How about this? 🙂 This is something I have only so far dreamt about – Dernier books reaching children who don’t speak English. Please pray that many girls will be touched by this fab Christian book in the tiny country of Croatia, with an even smaller Christian minority. I met Josip and Momir from Kristofori, a small publishing house in Zagreb, at a conference for European Christian publishers last year. The book is beautifully produced; it’s a privilege to be able to partner with them in this way. I hope this will be the start of many translations, and many children touched by the good news through our stories all over the world – please keep praying! Greek translations are still going ahead . . .
Our books in Chad!
Some of our books have reached Chad, thanks to one of our supporters, Roy, who went out there in the autumn! Roy told me,”Two young Korean friends whose parents work and live in Chad, and who themselves attend school in Kenya, read a selection of Dernier books that I left with them in Chad. They have sent these photos of themselves enjoying the books. They are going to share the books (about a dozen) between their school and the Africa Inland Mission school in N’Djaména.” This is what the boys said about the books:
“I want to be an Airplane Pilot was an amazing book. It reminds me of how God is awesome. Under the Tamarind Tree is a great unforgettable story. Took me back to my childhood. Thank you so much for all the books. We enjoyed them a lot!”
Please continue to pray for our books as they go out all over the world . . . well, not for the books, for those who read them!
Are you off on a trip this year?
Are you, or do you know anyone going out to another country on a ministry trip this year? If so, could you buy a dozen or so books to take out with you in your suitcase, or buy books for someone else to take? In some countries of the world, children are starving for books to help them in their education. To have a Christian input in the stories is, of course, an added huge bonus – what a way to be a blessing, not just for this life, but the one to come! Alternatively, if you would like us to send a box of books to a school or children’s home, we can try to find the best way to do this for you – just let me know. Shipping is not cheap, but some places are easy and safe to send to. A supporter recently asked me to send a pack of books to a children’s home in Tanzania and they arrived just a week or so later. The recipients were absolutely delighted because they had been wanting to start a library! Some things that are expensive are worth it. Perhaps if you don’t have the resources yourself, you could raise some money with a coffee morning or something? 🙂 Our packs of books are particularly good value, you can find them by clicking here.
Disconcerting news about school libraries
Does your local primary school have a library? Last month I met up with Cheryl, one of our diocesan children’s and youth advisers. (We were due to meet by the lifts outside John Lewis at a local shopping mall – I waited half an hour on the ground floor while Cheryl waiting on the first floor – fortunately we did eventually get together!) I was hoping Cheryl would be able to point me in the right direction to get our books into schools, but the advice she had to give was disappointing. Although there may be some use for our books for ‘café theology’ (small discussion/study groups), generally speaking schools don’t have the budget to buy books and many no longer have libraries. Imagine that! Almost all teaching is now internet based, apparently, and books for reading are usually from a reading scheme. Some schools may buy a few extra books for classroom libraries, but these are likely to be popular best-sellers. I have long cherished the dream that children from any faith or none could find our books in their school library – but if there are no libraries, this isn’t going to be possible! Maybe your church could buy local schools a pack of books, or give our books away for a present for Easter, or to leavers in the summer? I’d be really happy to offer quantity discounts. If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear from you. You can contact me here. (And many thanks to Cheryl for giving her time and advice, and for waiting so long!)
Supporting Bookshops
We love to support Christian bookshops, but our sales from them are getting lower and lower. In fact, at a trade event last September we gave away more books to bookshops as samples, than we sold to them in the run up to Christmas. This means we actually lost money. 🙁 There are less bookshops around, and many of those that remain are struggling for sales. Do support them if you can, and pray for them and for us as we work towards the same aim of getting as many books as we can into the hands of those who need to hear the good news, or to be built up in faith. Please pray for them, and for us, that we would both find creative ways to find more customers and make more sales, because there is still an urgent need to get books into the hands of our young people.
Janet Wilson, Founder of Dernier Publishing
Thank you so much for reading this far! Must go, sorry I’ve kept you so long – may the Lord be with you!
Welcome to the final Dernier Publishing newsletter of 2015!
A Month of Prayer Requests
Our books are out there, all over the world, sowing seeds. But we need to pray – we can provide the books, but we can’t touch hearts and lives – only God can do that.
So, as I have no doubt you are already bombarded with ways to spend your money this Christmas, I thought this month I would request your prayers, rather than give you all the news. But first there is one thing I have been itching to tell you about which can’t wait till next month . . .the first of the Beech Bank Girls books is being translated into Croatian! We have never sold rights to other publishers in other countries before, so this is a brand new thing for us – Eleanor (the author) and I are delighted that girls in that tiny country, with an even tinier Christian minority, will be able to read this encouraging book. What do you think of that? Good news, eh! May it be the first of many translations! 🙂
So, if you have a few minutes to spare now, or would be willing to pray for one item every day through December, would you print this off and stick it somewhere convenient, and pray for us? I would be hugely grateful.
1. Please pray for the translation of BBG into Croatian, and pray for many more opportunities like this.
2. Please pray for supporter Michelle and the plans she has to translate and print our books in Greek – the first steps have been taken, but there is still much work to do.
3. Suicide rates are on the rise among teenagers, which is terrible. One fourteen-year-old took her life near us recently, and another girl’s attempted suicide was thwarted. Please pray that our books will touch children who feel hopeless and helpless. The World Health Organisation states: “Although suicide rates have traditionally been highest amongst elderly males, rates among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now the group at highest risk in a third of all countries.” This includes the UK.
4. Pray for a local teacher who uses our books in a lunch time book club. The children have enjoyed reading our stories – please pray for seeds to be sown that will bear fruit. One grandma asked to borrow one of the books after her granddaughter told her all about it with such enthusiasm! Please pray that other similar groups will be formed.
5. More and more children are being radicalised, marginalised, bullied, and becoming bullies. Please pray that in some way children will find our books, given by neighbours, friends and through schools and Christian youth clubs, that the Lord will transform children’s lives before they get into gangs, crime, drugs and violence – or become victims. 14 teenagers have died in stabbing incidents in London so far this year. 🙁 6. Pray for the children who will receive our books this Christmas, whatever their background, that through all the tinsel and glitter, the parties and the food, the sparkly presents and the many distractions, or the lack of any of these, our books will be read and re-read, loved and cherished because they feel the touch of the Lord on their lives as they turn the pages.
7. Give thanks for the new website, and that I can now update it myself. Please pray it will be found and used by people who want our books, not by phishers, spammers, and anyone with malicious intent!
8. Pray that technology won’t break down (or cause headaches!), and we’ll be able to comply with the many statutory regulations.
9. Please pray for good relationships with Christian bookshops – pray they will support us in our ministry and not just stock the books, but promote them in creative ways to their customers, local schools and churches.
10. I would be grateful for your prayers for our authors – Eleanor and Mary have had particularly difficult health and family issues this year. There is opposition to the work. 11. We are planning to bring out The City Kid in paperback next year! Please pray for every step to be made plain to us as we consider new ways of production and try to keep costs to a minimum. Pray that this excellent “prodigal” story will be eagerly received by young people all over the world, and that many will turn to God.
12. The City Kid was originally written in Uganda, and we’d love to be able to produce the book in large quantities at low cost locally, though I’m not yet sure how! Please do pray for this.
13. Pray for all other plans for next year, that the Lord will lead and guide, open or close doors, that His will will be done.
14. Please pray for better sales of our current stock, so we can keep going and produce more books, so that we can reach more children. Please pray that 2016 will be a year of great increase! The Lord has given me the task of getting Christian books into children’s hands all over the world – I know it sounds crazy, but believe me, I wouldn’t have chosen me and often feel tiny and inadequate. All I can say is that sometimes the Lord uses what is weakest and of no account. And there has never been a time when children needed the gospel more. Books are such a non-threatening way to reach hearts and lives. The Lord is using our books for good . . . please pray that our ministry will grow and multiply even more than we can ask for or imagine! 15. Pray for effective use of advertising and promotion, including through facebook, so that the people who want what we have will find us!
16. Please pray that I will use my time wisely – there are so many things to do!
17. Pray that many young people’s hearts and lives will be touched by the Holy Spirit as they read our books in other countries of the world. I know books have gone to France, Belgium, The Gambia, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, USA, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Greece, and there may be more (do email me if you have sent any anywhere else!). And if you are reading this in any of these countries, please pray for us in the UK, too!
18. Pray for Write for a Reason, that I will be able to help more writers fulfill their mission. (Write for a Reason is a resource I run for unpublished Christian writers of stories for 8-14s.) 19. Please thank God for all the wonderful testimonies we have received so far of how our books have touched lives. Please pray that the seeds that have been sown will keep growing and bear fruit in season.
20. Pray that churches will not only buy books for their own children and young people, but also those on the fringes of church life. Please pray that whole families will be transformed by the message in the stories.
21. Pray that more schools will use our books for class readers and as a resource for RE.
22. Please also pray for a new initiative we are trying out, writing studies to go with the books, so they can be used in “café theology” study groups in schools, churches and youth groups.
23. Pray for a better storage solution for us – as we produce more books we are needing more space! 24. Shipping abroad is expensive, and it seems that Print-on-Demand is becoming more and more of a viable option – if we can print books in other countries, it could help us resource hard-to-ship-to places more easily. Please pray for this.
25. Pray that our own church children who read our books will be encouraged to keep walking in the faith. Just reading a book with Christian characters can help them feel less marginalised, and our books can show how their faith can make a difference in practice. I met a lady at an event recently whose two children have walked away from their faith, even though they used to be “right there” when they were younger. This is, sadly, a common story. Statistics of the number of young people dropping out of church is both sad and frightening. 26. Pray that parents and grandparents, godparents and neighbours, Sunday School teachers, youth workers and church leaders will see the importance of giving the older children they love good Christian books to read, to encourage and inspire them in their faith.
27. Pray for children from non-church backgrounds, that they will have an opportunity to hear the good news in a way relevant to them through our books. Pray that children will be drawn towards our books in school libraries and bookshops, and they will be drawn to the Lord through them.
28. Pray for children all over the world in desperate need of books, that somehow we might be able to get our books to them, maybe partnering with other agencies.
29. Pray that churches and schools will buy books for schools and churches they sponsor/care for in deprived places, that the good news will particularly reach the poor and needy, the abused and oppressed.
30. Pray for health and strength, energy and wisdom for all who help with Dernier in whatever capacity – production, editing and proof reading, illustration and design, IT, accounts, authors, distributors, reps, sales – and for me, too! Please pray for wisdom in all the decisions that need to be made.
31. Please pray for my family – my elderly Mum with dementia, my husband and three (adult) children, their partners and children and my two step-children . . . and me!
Thank you so much for praying with us. May the Lord hear! May the Lord act! May the Lord do mighty miracles by his grace! “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!” (Ephesians 3:20 NIV)
If you have a word of encouragement to share, or a story of how one of our books has touched a life, please don’t hesitate to email me, I would love to hear from you.
And may the grace of God be with you this Christmas as you celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Emmanuel, God with us,
Janet
Janet Wilson, Founder of Dernier Publishing and Write for a Reason.
So, Halloween and Christmas in one newsletter – I didn’t intend it that way, but actually, isn’t that pretty much what we face daily, as Christians? Alongside the wonderful good news of Jesus there is much evil.
I was talking to a teenage lad from a Christian family recently – he told me about the pumpkin he carved, which will now be lit in the garden every night until it disintegrates. Does this worry you? It worries me. He seemed surprised that I have never carved a pumpkin, or did this with my children because of what lies behind the festival. Apparently it’s just harmless fun, carving pumpkins . . .
It reminds me that our own church children need Christian books as much as children from non-church backgrounds. Satan doesn’t come in devil costume, he comes dressed in fun clothes. We need to fight for those who can not fight for themselves.
Write for a Reason The latest seven week online writing course I run is just finishing – please pray for students as they continue their writing journey, and others who now belong to the Membership Programme. If you know anyone who writes Christian stories for children, do send them our way! Click here to read more. One student said about the last module: “I’m feeling quite sad and a little reluctant to start this module as it’s the last one! It’s a bit like keeping the last sweet in the packet!”
New Developments
We are still working on getting our books out to other countries, but things are running frustratingly slowly . . . please pray for a breakthrough! Thank you, you have no idea how much your prayers are appreciated. We are also planning to get The City Kid into paperback next year . . . Books into Schools
I’d also very much like to get more of our books into schools. I’m meeting up with our Diocesan Youth Adviser later this month, to get some ideas how we can make our books useful for RE lessons. If you have any advice or help, please do send it my way! One local school is once again using some of our books for their Book Club (children in years 5 and 6). Please pray for them!
And Finally, Christmas is Coming!
Yep, it’s that time again, folks! Time to start making Christmas present lists – such an excellent time of year to reach out to neighbours and friends with the good news in the guise of a non-threatening book. To help you along the way, here are all our books – you can get all these from your local Christian bookshops as well as from our website. You can get some of the books as bundles, too. My prayer is that as you reach out to the children on your heart with these books, lives will be changed. Who knows what mighty oaks might grow from the seeds you sow?
So here are all our books! Click on each of the pictures for more information (at least, I hope so, if I have correctly worked out the technology!).
Beech Bank Girls, A Time Remembered
Teenage friends Chloe, Willow, Annie, Rachel, Holly and Amber become absorbed in a diary from the First World War, and discover that the choices they make have consequences, just as they did for fourteen-year-old Grace one hundred years ago.
The girls continue to live, love and laugh together through all the trials and joys of life, and discover that even when everything seems to be going wrong, God is still at work.
ISBN: 9780956904379 / £5.99 / 192pp
Beech Bank Girls, Christmas is Coming!
Perfect for Christmas! Also great for girls struggling with body image, money worries at home and grandparents’ failing health.
Holly faces the reality of financial crisis at home; Rachel is worried about her sister; a sledging incident shakes the girls and a different nativity play brings home the true meaning of Christmas.
ISBN: 9780956904317 / £5.99 / 176pp
Beech Bank Girls, Every Girl Has a Story
Great for girls who are growing up fast, to encourage them to walk with God. Tackles issues of bullying, illness, step-families and temptations. Miracle and party included!
This popular book was shortlisted for the Christian Resources Awards 2011.
ISBN: 9780953696345 / £5.99 / 160pp
Beech Bank Girls, Making a Difference
Perfect for girls who want to make a difference in the world!
The Beech Bank Girls discover that they don’t have to wait until their gap year to start helping people in need. A new culture on their doorstep, an emotional night out – the girls learn that they can make a difference right where they are.
Shortlisted for the Christian Resources Awards 2012.
ISBN: 9780953696376 / £5.99 / 192pp
London’s Gone Great for young people wondering how faith can make a difference; also perfect to encourage Christian youngsters to reach out to their friends.
London has been bombed by terrorists and three teens have to make their way to safety. Only one of them is a Christian – will it make a difference to the way he reacts to the situation?
ISBN: 9780953696321 / £6.99 / 224pp
PS I lent this book to a 16-year-old bookworm from our church youth group (not a Christian girl, but on the fringes), and she absolutely loved it – she couldn’t put it down, totally identified with the characters and loved the plot and the suspense. Please pray for her! The Only Way A brilliant introduction to faith in God.
Perfect for anyone who loves a well-written, gripping story.
When a mysterious, disaffected teenager meets the beautiful and mysterious Lily, he discovers a new way to live, the only way.
ISBN: 9780953696390 / £5.99 / 142pp A Pennyworth of Peppermints Perfect for schools, presentations and prizes.
A spy story, set in the First World War. This delightful story captures a little of what life was like for families living through the Great War, and how faith in God can make a difference.
ISBN: 9780956904331 / £5.99 / 160p
I Want to Be an Airline Pilot
Perfect for children who love reading about other cultures, and those who need to know that they have a father in heaven who cares for them. Through a series of adventures, Shema discovers that he has a Father in heaven who cares for him.
ISBN: 9780953696352 / £5.99 / 112pp
Living in Hope
The thrilling sequel to I want to be an Airline Pilot. Shema and his friends still have many exciting and dangerous challenges to face; will their new faith survive?
Perfect for children new to faith; also a gentle introduction to the issue of child slavery.
ISBN: 9780956904300 / £5.99 / 128pp
Under the Tamarind Tree
Perfect for children struggling with a change in their life, and to learn about living in a new culture from a child’s perspective. The third book in the “Rwanda” series. Timo and Joshua don’t want to go and live in rural Rwanda, but learn that God knows best.
ISBN: 9780956904324 / £5.99 / 128pp
Deepest Darkness Perfect for sensitive children, those who enjoy thoughtful books and those who struggle with anxiety. Facing her fears one by one, Abi opens here life to the light and finds a freedom she never thought possible.
PS If you’ve had children worried about things that happened at Halloween, or want to give a Christian take on ‘Divali’, this is the book for you, because it’s all about finding light, even in the darkness.
ISBN: 9780953696369 / £5.99 / 112pp
The Treasure Hunt
Great for kids who love exciting mystery stories. Four Christian friends go on a treasure hunt with the church youth club, but while looking for clues they fall into another adventure. Will they find out what is going on and find the real treasure?
ISBN: 9780953696314 / £4.99 / 96pp
Mystery in the Snow
Perfect for children who enjoy mystery stories. Great for outreach.
Not long after solving their first mystery (The Treasure Hunt), Debbie, Ravi, Lance and Joel find themselves with another problem; Ravi’s shed has been burgled. Join the Christian friends as they find answers in unexpected places.
ISBN: 9780953696338 / £5.99 / 112pp
The Birthday Shoes Great for girls who love shoes, friends and magical adventures!
Join Emily Jane as she goes on a series of adventures in Africa wearing her magic shoes, making friends and some exciting discoveries about God along the way.
ISBN: 9780953696383 / £5.99 / 128pp
Hope that helps you choose! Let me know if I can help you at all – otherwise, I’ll be back in touch next month, or see you on our facebook page! Janet
Those of you who are my friends on facebook may have seen this photo . . . I found these items when clearing out my mum’s kitchen! Anyone remember greasy spam fritters? The jelly in the tinned ham? And when Babycham was the ultimate treat? I hope I haven’t put you off your meal! 🙂 If you are not British, or are too young to remember these things . . . they are a throwback to the 70s, when cheap convenience foods were the order of the day for many families.
Suffice it to say, we are what we eat. (Hurray for 5-a-day!) And this is true with our spiritual lives, too. Few children have the privilege of good biblical food . . . some of what they are taking in is a lot worse than spam fritters, but we can help to reverse the trend with our books with their excellent nutrition value!
Reviews on Website
I need your help! Would you be kind enough to leave a reviewof any of our books on the Dernier website? www.dernierpublishing.com – click on the book you have read and underneath it there’s a tab that says ‘Reviews’. Click on that and away you go! Thank you so much.
Books into Greek
I have mentioned Michelle before, and how keen she is to get our books printed in Greek. She has a passion to reach the children of Greece and Cyprus, who are starving for good Christian literature.
Unfortunately this is a costly exercise and Michelle is looking for sponsorship for this project. If you are able to help in any way, I know Michelle (and the children of Greece!) would be hugely grateful. This is Michelle’s vision: “ . . .to get all the books translated and printed and then aim to donate at least one box to each Sunday school in Greece and Cyprus where the books can be used as a lending library or a book club.” Here’s a picture of one of Michelle’s foster-daughters reading the translation of I Want to Be an Airline Pilot in Greek.
Please pray!
Books to Africa
If we can print on demand in Kenya, we will be able to help children like these. (With thanks to Dr Loise Gichuhi from Nairobi University and Education Bridge Africa for the photo.)
These are real children who desperately need books. Let’s pray that the Lord will make a way! Way too many children in Kenya have to help on the farm instead of going to school. Families can’t afford school fees, but education is a way out of poverty. This a chicken and egg situation, but if we can help with books, we can at least help some break out of this cycle . . . with books that share the message of hope and love in Jesus. Please pray with me for a miracle. Thank you. x
Christian Resources Together
I spent a couple of days with loads of other people from the Christian book trade at The Hayes Christian Centre, Derbyshire, last month. Author Eleanor Watkins came too and we had lots of fun with other publishers, authors and booksellers. I thought you’d like to see a couple of photos! (With thanks to Dave Lock from Manna Christian Bookshop, Streatham, for the pic of Eleanor and I together.)
Oh, and if you haven’t bought the new Beech Bank Girls book (the one Eleanor is holding), your girls are seriously missing out on a good meal – you know where to get it! 🙂
Allstars Children’s magazine
Finally, we have linked up with Allstars Children’s Magazine to offer some free copies of our Beech Bank Girls books. This is an excellent Christian magazine for children 8-11s. Do take a look at their website.
And that’s all the news for now! Thank you for reading this – I always look forward to newsletter time so I can share all our encouraging news with you. 🙂
Janet
P.S. Just a thought – why not take inspiration from Michelle and buy a pack of Dernier books for your own Sunday School or Kids Club? Click here to find these on the Dernier website or visit your local Christian bookshop. Your gift could change lives.
Share this:
Welcome to the October 2015 Dernier Publishing newsletter! Spam, Ham and Babycham Those of you who are my friends on facebook may have seen this photo . . . I found these items when clearing out my mum’s kitchen! Anyone remember greasy spam fritters? The jelly in the tinned ham? And when Babycham was the ultimate treat? I hope I haven’t put you off your meal! 🙂 If you are not British, or are too young to remember these things . . . they are a throwback to the 70s, when cheap convenience foods were the order of the day for many families.
Suffice it to say, we are what we eat. (Hurray for 5-a-day!) And this is true with our spiritual lives, too. Few children have the privilege of good biblical food . . . some of what they are taking in is a lot worse than spam fritters, but we can help to reverse the trend with our books with their excellent nutrition value!
Reviews on Website
I need your help! Would you be kind enough to leave a review of any of our books here on the website? Find the book/s you have read. Underneath each one there’s a tab that says ‘Reviews’. Click on that and away you go! Thank you so much.
Books into Greek
I have mentioned Michelle before, and how keen she is to get our books printed in Greek. She has a passion to reach the children of Greece and Cyprus, who are starving for good Christian literature.
Unfortunately this is a costly exercise and Michelle is looking for sponsorship for this project. If you are able to help in any way I know Michelle (and the children of Greece!) would be hugely grateful. This is Michelle’s vision: “ . . .to get all the books translated and printed and then aim to donate at least one box to each Sunday school in Greece and Cyprus where the books can be used as a lending library or a book club.” Here’s a picture of one of Michelle’s foster-daughters reading the translation of I Want to Be an Airline Pilotin Greek.
Please pray! (And P.S. – Could you buy a box of Dernier books for your own Sunday School or Kids Club? Click here to find these on the Dernier website or order them from your Christian bookshop.)
Books to Africa
If we can print books on demand in Kenya, we will be able to help children like these. (With thanks to Dr Loise Gichuhi from Nairobi University and Education Bridge Africa for the photo.) These are real children who desperately need books. Let’s pray that the Lord will make a way! Way too many children in Kenya have to help on the farm instead of going to school. Families can’t afford school fees, but education is a way out of poverty. This a chicken and egg situation, but if we can help with books, we can at least help some break out of this cycle . . . with books that share the message of hope and love in Jesus! Please pray with me for a miracle. Thank you. x
Christian Resources Together
I spent a couple of days with loads of other people from the Christian book trade at The Hayes Christian Centre, Derbyshire, last month. Author Eleanor Watkins came too and we had lots of fun with other publishers, authors and booksellers. I thought you’d like to see a couple of photos!
Allstars Children’s magazine
We have linked up with Allstars Children’s Magazine to offer some free copies of our Beech Bank Girls books. This is an excellent Christian magazine for children 8-11 – do take a look at their website – you can order magazines FREE!
And that’s all the news for now! Thank you for reading this – I always look forward to newsletter time so I can share all our encouraging news with you. 🙂 Janet
P.S. Don’t forget to leave your book reviews before you go! Thank you very much for your help.
“Home Is Where The Heart Is”
Seeing images of desperate refugees on our TV screens reminds us that we should all have a home. Our hearts especially go out to the children, fleeing with nothing, frightened and exhausted.
“Home is where the heart is” goes the famous saying. Home should be a place where we are safe, living with people we care for and who care for us, where we can rest. This holds true whether we live in an urban flat, a country castle, or something in between.
Whatever our situation is on earth, as Christians we have the assurance of a heavenly home where we are with the Lord forever – at rest, safe and loved. Thrilling! We need to share this good news now, while we can, because one day it will be too late. We can’t take our collections, our photos or our family heirlooms with us, but we can build up treasures for ourselves in heaven while we wait for Jesus to come or call us . . . let’s make sure our heart is where our home is!
Print on Demand in Kenya
I have been exploring the possibility of printing ‘I Want to Be an Airline Pilot’ (for 8-11s) and ‘The City Kid’ (for young adults) in Kenya. As we have found out, shipping books to Africa is fraught with difficulties and expense. Printing locally might solve the problem and make the whole process more economical. In turn this would mean we would be able to get our books to many more children in places where reading material (and especially Christian books) is highly valued. I’m waiting for a quote with a Christian organisation in Kenya. Please pray with us for this potentially exciting new development. We already have a donation for this project, and an NGO in Nairobi desperate for books! It looks like the Lord is already making a way, which is simply fabulous news, but I’d very much value your prayers because this is totally new territory for me.
Eleven Scary Statistics
Ali Campbell from “The Resource”, who give support and advice to children’s and youth workers, recently checked out some statistics. Anyone who cares about young people should read them. Here’s one: 72% of Christians in the UK came to faith before they were 20 years old. Here’s another: only half of children brought up by Christian parents keep following for themselves. You can read all the details here: Statistics on Children in the Church Suffice it to say, we need to do everything we can to reach the children on our hearts NOW, while they are young. We can’t sit back and do nothing. Most schools will still accept Christian books for their libraries, but many don’t have any. Few churches give Christian books to the children who go to their Sunday School, clubs and camps. Could you think of a way to get Christian books for children into your local library, school or church? We do a church/charity discount. Please let me know if I can help.
Thank you
On a much lighter note, thank you to all who responded so positively to last month’s Five Reasons to Visit Christian Bookshops. To respond to a common query, yes, by the time we’ve taken into account the cost of production and distribution, we do only make a small percentage of each sale through bookshops, and our direct sales keep us going . . . but the bookshops help us in our aim to reach as many children as possible, they do a fab, and we’re delighted to support their ministry. Let us know what you value about yours!
We Sold Out!
More fantastic news – back in July the Keswick Convention bookshop ordered a few of our books . . . 3 of the titles completely sold out! Thank you so much to all who prayed for good sales! Now we need to keep praying for the children who have read or will be reading our books. What an awesome privilege we have, to pray to our Father in heaven, who hears us and delights to answer! 🙂
The new Write for a Reason course starts on 21st September
I run this course is for unpublished writers who write Christian novels for 8-14s -ish – more details here: Read the Course Details Here You can also read testimonials from previous students who have completed the course on the Write for a Reason website. Please pass on to anyone you know who might be interested!
Phew – there’s always so much to share! Thank you for reading this far – I hope I haven’t bored you! With grateful thanks for you support, as always,
Janet
P.S. If you enjoyed this newsletter, would you be kind enough to forward it to one or two people who might be interested? I will also put it on facebook, so if you come over to the Dernier facebook page you can share it with your friends!
The Unknown Time Can you believe it’s harvest time already? This year the farmer who owns the field opposite our home used a new combine harvester – it was enormous, noisy and terrifying; as it thundered past on the other side of the hedgerow, the ground shook!
Every year we wonder when the farmer is going to come. One year it seemed like all the grain was going to be gone by the time the farmer harvested! Flocks of birds were eating the ears of wheat and rain had flattened large areas. Every day we looked out of the window and thought, surely he must come soon! This year the farmer came earlier than expected.
In just the same way, we don’t know when the Lord will come. At times like this it’s good to stop and think – if the Lord came tomorrow, or took me, is there anything I would regret? What about you? Why not stop and make a list of ten things you’d like to accomplish while you are still on this earth, then make a start to get them done? The Lord gave you your talents and gifts and placed you where you are for a reason – make your life count!
Books have arrived at Scripture Union in Uganda! I learnt a lesson from this – make yourself comfortable because I have a story for you! Many months ago you may remember me telling you that I met Dickens Zziwa, National Director of Scripture Union Uganda, when he was in England on a visit. Dickens expressed a strong interest in our books and subsequently handed me over to Esther, their literature co-ordinator in Kampala. An order was made, then we had to find a way to get the books over there. I followed up several ideas and leads, but came to an impasse – there seemed to be no way of shipping the books without incurring huge costs and possibly extra money at customs. The final blow came when Esther had to tell me that the money they had set aside for the books had needed to be used for an urgent project. Then . . . two things happened! First, my church took up a thanksgiving offering and gave the money to Dernier. Second, a supporter emailed with an idea – a group from her church were going to Uganda with Needs International – and could take books for us! 🙂 And here are the books now in Kampala! Whoooo hooooooo! and praise the Lord! I have learnt that sometimes we have to be patient and wait for the Lord to make a way where there seems to be no way. Isn’t that just the most exciting story? 🙂 Please pray that these books will be well used and the Lord will use them to touch many young lives!
Sponsorship for Dernier Books into Greek I Want to Be an Airline Pilot has now been translated into Greek! Michelle, who lives in Greece and has taken up this project, says, “We now need a volunteer proof editor and proofreader, and sponsorship for the printing of the books.” I know, we’re not asking much! Still, after the story about our books in Uganda, we know the Lord can do the impossible if we all work together. Please pray with us – this is as vital as financial and practical help. 🙂 I can’t wait to tell you the next step in the saga!
Girl Culture
I may have mentioned Zoella to you before: she has over 8 million subscribers to her YouTube channel and now has her own range of beauty products: Watch Zoella’s favourite things video. Girls are spending hours watching video clips like these . . . what do you think? Do pray for girls who are at Christian camps and clubs this summer, hearing about a different way to live. And if you have any non-church neighbours, why not consider if there’s any way you could befriend them, even perhaps give/lend them a Beech Bank Girls book? There’s a lot of worldliness in the church too, but the things of this world will pass away, and their appeal ends up being so empty – it’s only with the Lord we can have true, abundant and eternal life – that’s good news to share!
Five Reasons to Visit Your Local Christian Bookshop
I totally understand that buying books online is quick, safe and convenient, but if you do have some free time, consider shopping in your local Christian bookshop. Here are a few benefits:
1. Your purchase will help to keep them open, at a time when all things Christian are being squeezed out of public life – this is certainly true in the UK (Other nations, let us know!).
2. Christian bookshops are more than bookshops – they minister to people who might not know one end of a Bible from another, or who come looking or seeking. Your purchase helps fund this ministry.
3. While you are there you may find some extra goodies you hadn’t thought of! Most sell lovely greetings cards at good prices with Scripture verses, calendars, gifts of all sorts, CDs, DVDs and a whole range of fabulous books (I came back recently from my local bookshop with a couple of birthday cards, and a CD for my husband’s birthday as well as the book I had ordered!).
4. While you may have to spend a bit extra on a book compared to buying from an online bookstore, you can have the satisfaction of knowing you have shopped ethically.
5. You can browse, ask for advice, hold the books and make comparisons. Perhaps you might come home with a more suitable product than the one you were going to buy!
Blogs
Just a very quick shout about two blogs I keep up: Write for a Reason is for Christians who write fiction for children and young adults. Christian Parenting Challenge is for parents who want a deeper relationship with their children. Feel free to take a look and pass it on!
Speaking Engagements
I’d love to come and talk to your church group about Dernier’s vision to get good Christian books into the hands of children and teens. If you have a midweek meeting, daytime or evening within reasonable travelling distance of London, do let me know!
With many thanks, once again, for your kind support . . . without you we wouldn’t be able to continue,
Janet
P.S. It’s with sadness I have to tell you that this is the last time I will be using this photo . . . I took Jake to the vet for the last time three weeks ago. He’s been my constant companion for the last eleven years, and I do miss him. My daughter and I brought him home in 2004 from a rescue centre – he was God’s little gift to myself and my three children at what was a very difficult time, not long after my first husband died. I hope dogs go to heaven. 🙂
help them find true and eternal love, life and laughter. We can’t force people to come to Jesus, neither would we want to, but we can show them the way through a Christian book.
I was interviewed by Matt Dick of UCB Radio last week about our new book, Revenge of the Flying Carpet. It was a bit last minute, as someone had suddenly dropped out and they had a hole to fill in their schedule! Please don’t feel obliged, but this is the link if you’d like to listen (it will be on the server for another couple of weeks). The interview begins around the 2:15:00 mark. :-) Love sharing the Dernier story!
We played games, like how many books can you carry on your head? (that was hilarious!) . . . can you find the buried book treasure on the map? . . . and how many words can you make from the letters of Revenge of the Flying Carpet, and of course sold some books! If you would like to hold a book party (and earn some commission), or come to the next book party at my house, let me know.
Still need presents? Or would love to give your young people’s class/group a last minute gift? As I said recently at the launch of Revenge of the Flying Carpet, all our books are published with two main aims – to be excellent reads, and to share something of the good news of Jesus.
As well as individual books, you can buy a series of books together: the four Beech Bank Girls books, the two Treasure Mystery books, the three Rwanda stories or a big family bundle of 15 books. Your gift could bring so much love, life and joy this Christmas!
And that’s all for this year! I wish you all a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. May your life be a blessing to everyone you come into contact with!
