The lessons and the rules

Six lessons,
told kindly.

Every Samia Kids film will carry one plain lesson and no lecture. These are the six the films in development are built around, and the star will learn each of them the slow way, which is the only way anyone does.

The six

One lesson
a film.

A child can carry one idea out of a story and keep it. So every film will be built around one of these six, and the others left for another day.

Honesty

Saying what happened, even when no one saw and even when it was you. One way a story could go: a pail tips over, nobody saw, and telling turns out to be easier than hiding.

What a child takes away: the truth is lighter to carry than a secret.

Patience

Waiting without making everyone else wait with you. The star wants everything now, which is why this is the lesson it needs most, and the hardest one to tell well.

What a child takes away: good things come at their own speed.

Courage

Doing the small brave thing: saying hello first, trying the high step, asking for help. Courage in these stories is quiet, and it is never about fighting anyone.

What a child takes away: brave is doing it with the wobble.

Generosity

Sharing what you have because someone else needs it, not because you were told to. One way a story could go: one full jar, one hungry neighbour, and more at the end than there was at the start.

What a child takes away: there is more when it is shared.

Curiosity

Asking why, looking closer, turning the stone over. The star asks a lot of questions and gets real answers, because a child who asks why deserves better than "because".

What a child takes away: wondering is how learning starts.

Making things

A drawing, a tower of cups, a song with three words. Making something and showing it to someone is the happiest thing a small person can do, and every film will leave room for it.

What a child takes away: you can make things too.

How a story is built

Five rules for
every new story.

The same five for every new story, a board book or a short film. They are not a formula; they are the things we check before anything is drawn.

One lesson

A story carries one idea. If a second one turns up, it gets its own story.

Wrong first

The hero gets it wrong before it gets it right. Nobody learns from a character who already knew.

No lecture

Nobody in the story explains the moral. If the story needs explaining, the story is not done.

Read aloud

Every line is written to be read out loud by a tired grown-up at bedtime. Short words, a rhythm, a place to breathe.

Drawn by hand

A person draws every picture, flat and bright, with an ink line. No picture in a story is generated.

The stories so far

Three in print,
one on the way.

What exists today, said plainly: three picture books you can hold, and a pilot film in development with no release date yet.

The three books are the Allah Book series by Samia Jahangiri, about the creatures Allah made. They will be sold through Samia Books when its shop opens; online ordering is coming.

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