Children Stories

What this web page is all about?

The Paper Air Ship and its First Trip (Suhaila - 7April 1999)

The Tornado and the House flying to Canada (Suhaila - April 1999)

The Tree that Gobbled up Disobedient Kids (Sarah - 1997)

The Factory and the Dinosaurs (Sarah - 30April 1999)

What is this web page is all about?

As Lewis Carrol has written Alice in Wonderland and other stories for his nieces, I always wanted to someday write stories for kids.

That day came at an expected instant on a spring day (8 April 1999). I arrived at home from a very demanding 4 day business trip full of very inconvenient flight schedule, little sleep and 12-hour work days. Being very tired and sleep deprived, missing my family was causing extra stress on me.

At the dinner table, my eldest daughter Suhaila (then 8 years old), spontaneously started telling us a dream she had. She started telling us the story, and I decided on the spot to put it in a web page. That night I started writing it, lest it "evaporates" from my memory (or hers!), and so came into being the story of The Paper Air Ship and its First Trip.

Note: My role here is mainly an editor and translator: I put into this web page what my eldest daughter told me. I am telling the story on behalf of her:

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The Paper Air Ship and its First Trip (7 April 1999)

Based on a real dream!

Sarah my younger sister, Yousra, our 11-year old neighbor, Mona, our Indonesian housekeepr, decided to build an Air Ship so that we can travel without the need for passports. All of us were building the air ship together for three days, in the compound's garden where we live in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Air Ship was built from paper, and was shaped like a drop but with a flat bottom, it had a steering wheel to turn it right and left.

I locked the bed room where me and my younger sister, Sarah, sleep, so my parents would not  know. We took Mona with us, our Indonesian house keeper.

As we stepped inside the Paper Air Ship, it rose in the air and flew by itself.

We found ourselves in Alexandria, Egypt, and wanted to visit our uncle (my father's brother) and my grandmother (their mother). We didn't know how to reach their house, so we spotted our uncle and his Landrover (Defender 110) 4-Wheel drive, so we followed him there, then the Paper Air Ship landed behind him, and we folded it. We went and visited him and our grandmother and stayed in Alexandria for 4 days.

Then the Paper Air Ship flew and took us to Canada, where we stayed for 4 more days.

Finally, we returned to Jeddah via the Paper Air Ship, but could not locate our compound. We landed into one compound and found that it is not our compound. We asked about the location of our compound, and flew up again until we reached home safely, and the Paper Air Ship landed.

The Tornado and the House flying to Canada

Based on a real dream!

(Need to be expanded)

A huge tornado hit our house, just like the one that hit Dorothy's house in the film "The Wizard of Oz". The tornado made our house fly high up in the air. It was very cold, so we got blankets to cover ourselves up.

Finally the house landed in a very cold place. When I saw all the people talking in French, I realized we are in Canada.

The Tree that swallowed Disobedient Kids!

Based on a real dream!

Kids who do not hold their parents hands on the street will be swallowed by a tree. This happened to Fadi and Magi, our Lebanese neighbors.

(To be written)

The Factory and the Dinosaurs<

Based on a real dream!

(Need to be written)

We went to the factory, and there were rats. We ran after rat, and killed it. Then we went to another floor and there were dinosaurs in cages. There were several ones, and a Tyranosaurus rex in a cage on its own. An old man was there, and he said "let us go quietly so as not to disturb him".