When Rosa's mother gets sick, Rosa is sent to live with relatives she barely knows: her Aunt Mookie and Cousin Birgit who live on a farm in the Black Forest. Even though she misses her mother terribly, Rosa soon begins to feel at home on the farm as she gets to know the people and animals around her, and she has her weekly letters from Mami to look forward to. Petra Mathers has based the story on her own childhood experiences, as she was often sent away while her mother struggled with tuberculosis. Her stylized gouache paintings skillfully express a combination of nostalgia, homesickness and a childlike excitement at first-time encounters. (Ages 4-8)

While her mother is treated for a serious illness, Rosa stays with her aunt and cousin on a farm in the Black Forest.