ALL THE PUBLISHER'S PROFITS WILL BE DONATED TO CHARITIES HELPING TO PROTECT THE CHILDREN OF
UKRAINE. I wrote this book about different children from different Ukrainian families in 2017
when Russia had conquered Crimea and temporarily occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk. I write
these forewords in the bathroom of my Kiev home in the roar of a Russian assailant's fire. I
can imagine that one of Maya's classmates is now praying in a bomb shelter another is writing
a letter to his imprisoned father in Russia and a third has already lost a loved one. It is
less likely that one of the boys or girls will start their life in Helsinki. War is always
catastrophic for children. I want to shout that the children of my country need international
protection. The world needs to understand this. --Larysa Denysenko February 2022 Since the
occupation of Crimea in 2014 Ukrainian families with children have had to live their daily
lives in the shadow of the threat of war. Maya and Her Friends tells the story of ordinary
Ukrainian children and their families. Nine-year-old Maja has 16 classmates all with different
home backgrounds. Sofia's father has disappeared in the battles against Russia. When the war
ends he will hopefully be found. Aksana lives with her father because her mother is dead.
Hristina lives with her grandmother because her parents are working abroad. Rais is a Crimean
Tatar whose family had to leave his homeland due to the Russian occupation. Timko's parents are
divorced and he lives alternately with his mother and father. Petro is a Roma and has a huge
family clan. Maja herself on the other hand has two mothers.
