Happy
New Year!
I
feel really excited about this year – maybe the Lord has some
wonderful things in store for us! Books that you have donated for
Kisumu children in Kenya will be going out in the spring (it's not
too late to donate a book or two, just let me know!); Mary Weeks
Millard's new book, 'A
Pennyworth of Peppermints'
is due out around Easter time; 'Deepest
Darkness'
will be out in audio and video soon, and we have many more exciting
projects in the pipeline . . . Please pray for wisdom, and for the
finances to complete all the projects we would love to do, so we can
reach as many children as we can with the 'message in a story'. The
Lord is able to do more than we can ask for or imagine . . . if we
all pray, who knows what we may be able to accomplish, by the Lord's
grace? Just like the berries in the photo which feed the birds, may
our stories be 'berries' that will nourish our children!
Please
Pray
Please
pray for all the children who will have received our books as
Christmas presents. Please pray that the Lord will use the stories to
touch children's hearts and lives . . . and their friends and
families, too!
Christian
Parenting Challenge
If
you have made a new year's resolution to deepen your relationship
with your child/children, why not join the Christian Parenting
Challenge? This is a free resource – every day
for 30 days you will be sent an email with a simple challenge for
that day. It sounds daunting, but feedback so far has been positive,
so why not give it a go? Email me if you'd like to sign up:
info@dernierpublishing.com
:-)
Kindle for Christmas?
I
visited friends last week, whose two children both received kindles
for Christmas, and were really enthusiastic about them! Up until
recently, most e-readers were being bought and used by the over 50s .
. . but more and more children are starting to use e-readers for
fiction, so we must keep up. 'The
Treasure Hunt'
and 'Mystery
in the Snow' are
already on kindle, but this year we're
hoping to get all our books out as e-books.
I'm not a “techie”, but I understand that you can change the
format for other e-readers. If anyone can give us a step-by-step run
down of how to do this, I can pass on the info in the next
newsletter! :-)
Sharing
the Wealth!
We
love to hear from you! Please find below some reviews from one of our
supporters – thank you Roy :-) (By the way, I've left them
completely unedited!)
"The
Birthday Shoes"
I
greatly enjoyed this. It showed a first-hand knowledge of Africa. It
was easy to identify with Emily Jane and her growing understanding of
the difficult circumstances faced by African children. The growing
spiritual perception of her friend, Jenna, was convincing. The
twists and turns in the story kept it moving forward at a lively
pace.
"I want to
be an Airline Pilot"
This
was an intriguing and delightful tale of an orphaned family which was
written with great compassion. The hero, Shema, and the lady that
rescued him, Mama Grace, and their fears and emotions were very well
portrayed. Again the story was fast-moving and full of local
interest.
"The
Treasure Hunt"
This
story had plenty of movement, and there was lively interaction
between the young characters. It seemed unlikely that youngsters
would have got quite so involved as sleuths in real life, but it made
for a good story. There were perhaps too many "religious
moments" in the story, but that clearly didn't put the young
people off who were quoted on the back cover.
"London's
Gone"
This
was a very original story, full of adventure and surprise, especially
the ending. It seemed rather surreal, and I kept wondering why no
adults stopped to rescue them, but the interaction between the three
children was well-executed, as was the gradual change in thinking and
attitude of the older girl, Maria. The contrasting characters of the
two girls and Arthur was a great idea, though Arthur seemed to be too
spiritual to be true. The story-line gripped me.
"Deepest
Darkness"
This
was a gentle and rather predictable story, but the gradual release of
the heroine, Abi, from her fears was well-portrayed. I liked the way
that the explicit mentions of God or Jesus were few, and this made
the gradual spiritual enlightenment more realistic.
"The
Only Way"
This
was the one I liked best. I thought the teenage boy (I have lent the
book out and can't remember his name) was very convincingly
portrayed. The author had a good knowledge of teenage psyche and
language (There were words of which I did not know the meaning!).
The
treatment of the gypsies, and especially of the girl - was she gypsy
was she angel ? - was very moving. I thought that this book could
well appeal to a non-Christian child or teenager and open them up to
the possibility of a God who cares about us. It may also speak to a
youngster from a Christian home, struggling with whether to buy into
her/his parents' faith.
What
do you think? Let me know! info@dernierpublishing.com
:-)
Thank
you
A
sincere thank you to all who have helped us in any way over the last
year. You have no idea how much your support has been appreciated,
whatever your involvement. You can also:
- follow us on facebook: www.facebook.com/dernierpublishing
- follow us on twitter: @janetwilsonxxx
- recommend our books to others
- stock our books in your shop/church bookstall
- forward our newsletters to friends and colleagues
- print out our newsletter for your church noticeboard
- recommend our books to your children's school or home school group
- ask for our books at your local library
- buy a book (or as many books as you like!) for Kisumu children in Kenya
- write a review for online bookstores (e.g. Amazon, Eden, Goodreads)
- pray for us!
Could
you just do one extra thing to help us to 'enlarge our territory'?
And of course you can buy our books for the children on your heart –
that's the best thing of all! Thank you so much :-)
Ooh,
I nearly forgot!
We're
giving away a free book, prayer booklet or poster every month in
2014! This month we're going to give away the first of the Beech Bank
Girls series – it's a really lovely book! Pop over to
www.facebook.com/dernierpublishing,
like our page and share the photo of the book, and you could be the
winner! Oh dear, I've run out of room again! May 2014 be a really
special year for you and your family. And if there's anything we can
do to help, do let me know!
Janet
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