What is the story behind the book about Maggie?

Many readers have told me that it is the first book that tackles such difficult issues objectively and in a manner that children can understand. Ilmar Tomusk writes, how he  managed this challenge as a writer?

"I come from a family, which consisted of Mom, Dad and five children. I was a child during the Soviet occupation of Estonia, and there wasn’t much talk back then about children who had been abandoned by their parents. I did know that orphanages existed, but I never saw or knew any orphans. They seemed to be existing in a different world.

It is a good thing that in independent Estonia, more attention has been paid to such children. They do exist, they are here among us and they are just as valuable as kids growing up with their mothers and fathers.

I know several families that in addition to their own offspring are raising children who have remained alone in the world for some reason or another. I have talked to such parents, trying to find out about the joys and worries accompanying adoption. There can be dozens of different reasons why children are left without their parents and it is not always the fault of their natural mothers or fathers, that they cannot or are not able to raise their children.

The people who take care of children who are not their own in the same manner as their own kids are real heroes, for they give a small kid something, whose value is impossible to measure – a home, a family, a childhood.

I think it is important to tell the children that there are different families; some consist of one parent, some of two; you can be raised by your natural parents or foster parents. The children just have to know that they are valued and loved. And this is the main message.

Grown-ups tend to over-dramatize many issues, but children can be happy about small things as well. In the book Maggie is glad about jam and bread or a lollipop. The fact that you cannot afford to buy everything sold in a store does not mean that you are a bad child or that you are not loved.

„All Mothers Are Good“ is a grown-up’s view of the world of a little girl abandoned by her mother and adopted by another. The beginning of the story is sad, but it has a happy ending. The small girl gets a new Mom, who loves her dearly. I am sure that every tiny girl also dreams about a Dad who is big and strong, but this is another story in another book."

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