Gloria’s Porridge: A Story from Ethiopia

In Laird’s retelling of an Ethiopian folktale, Gloria, a Black girl in a spotted aqua tunic and pink striped pants, is making porridge when her anthropomorphic brown cat asks for some. After Gloria refuses and heads out to fetch more water, the cat subsequently eats the whole pot, setting off a chain of events that soon cause chaos in their community, disrupting a donkey, hen, and bees until a fox intervenes, snapping the group out of their blame cycle by asking, “What are you going to do now?” Employing a digital style with stamp and airbrush textures, Newsome portrays the scenes simply, using a light-colored palette. A contemporary-feeling folktale with a message of community care, interconnection, and moving forward. Ages 4–up.[em] (Aug.) [/em]