Two Hilarious New Stories from the Creators of A First Norooz

BURBANK – Following “Babak and Friends - A First Norooz”, a new adventure in the form of a high-quality, hardcover Storybook comes from Norooz productions. “Babak and Friends - A Visit From Maman Bozorg” contains two new stories following the mischievous Babak and his favorite cousins Saman and Sousanne.

Written by writer/director Dustin Ellis, the first story is about the difficulties of generations and the daily issues we all face with multi-lingual families. As Babak's sweet grandmother "Maman Bozorg" comes to visit from Iran, Babak feels embarrassed at her peculiar ways.

It all comes to a head when Maman Bozorg wants to speak Farsi and Babak would rather speak English. The two find common ground however, after they discover that they do have something in common after all. This wonderful tale of love between two very different generations has been skillfully illustrated by Norooz Cartoonist Alfred Gimeno, who is also a lead storyboard artist for Dreamworks.

The book contains a second story, illustrated by Nooroz Cartoonist and Emmy award winning Storyboard artist Joe Banaszkiewicz. In "We Want A Dog! ” Saman and Sousanne settle into their new home, and decide that they would like to have a new dog to play with.

Their mother, Farah, let's the children test out this new idea to teach them a good lesson about responsibility. After the new dog causes trouble in the house, it remains to be seen whether the parents still agree to having this new family addition.

“We feel our products are not only fun, but also very educational. We hope to continue our efforts in this way by focusing on issues that are important and relevant to multi-cultural parents around the world”, says Mastaneh Moghadam, the executive from Norooz Productions.

The storybook is made from a durable hard cover with color illustrations, and comes in English and Farsi text on each page. Books can be purchased for $14.99 at most Persian stores and also online at www.babakandfriends.com.

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“Babak and Friends - A Visit From Maman Bozorg”

Illustrations by Alfred Gimeno

“Babak and Friends – ‘We Want A Dog!' ”

Illustrations by Joe Banaszkiewicz.

Written by Dustin Ellis, Tranlsations by Guity Shahbaz

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About Norooz Productions: Norooz productions aims focus on culture and education through entertainment. We want to create high quality products for multi-cultural children of different backgrounds. We hope not only to keep culture and languages alive through our products, but to also teach Western audiences about these rich traditions. Babak and Friends is our first brand that focuses on the Iranian community. Through Babak, we hope to teach Iranian children about being Persian and proud and non-Iranians about the history and wealth of Persian culture.