Ida Louise lives on a strawberry farm with her grandparents and Poochie Pat le D-O-Gee, her snowy white puppy. The farm is in Norway, land of fjords and lush valleys where Ida Louise and Poochie Pat like to play. Ida Louise doesn’t always feel confident, but when she wears the sweater Grandpa brought her from one of his trips to another town, she feels very special.
When Grandpa takes her to the art museums, Ida Louise allows her imagination to transport her to the places and times she sees in the paintings. On the wall in her room she has a framed postcard of her favorite painting, a valley of beautiful flowers.
While playing in the valley one day Poochie Pat and Ida Louise find one unusual flower blooming. She has only seen flowers like this one in her favorite painting and wonders how it came to grow in her valley. She names the lone red flower Mystic Rosie Petal de la Fjord and they become friends, for Ida Louise discovers this flower talks!
Mystic Rosie was sad that no other flower looked like her. She wondered how she grew in this valley and where her family lived. Mystic Rosie, Ida Louise and Poochie Pat set off on a trip to look for other flowers like Mystic Rosie. Ida Louise was confident they would find Mystic Rosie’s home, because she was wearing her lucky sweater and wonderful things happen when Ida Louise wears her lucky sweater.
After a long walk and some help along the way, the travelers find the valley depicted in Ida Louise’s favorite painting. Flowers just like Mystic Rosie were blooming everywhere. They meet Mystic Rosie’s grandparents and learn her parents no longer live because their section of the valley had been fenced in for sheep to graze. Ida Louise comforts her friend telling her she doesn’t need parents to feel loved, she just needs friends.
On their way back through the nearby town Ida Louise sees several girls wearing sweaters like hers and begins to understand it wasn’t the sweater that was special, it was Ida Louise, herself. |
