Mi Libro, Mi Espejo with Dr. Oriel Maria Siu

Mi Libro, Mi Espejo (My Book, My Mirror) is a community literacy service project by Dr. AdaVilageliu-Díaz (Ph.D. in Literature) in collaboration with the LAMB PTO Diversity & Inclusion Committee. The primary goal of this project is to provide children cultural mirrors that affirm their identity and instill pride in their diverse cultures, languages, and traditions. This program promotes literacy skills in both Spanish and English while empowering children to see themselves and tell their own stories. The project is primarily focused on Latinx children’s books, but it includes and celebrates children from all backgrounds.

Oriel María Siu (1981) is from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Daughter to a strong & mighty Pipil-Salvadoran-Guatemalan mother, and a dedicated Chinese Nicaraguan father, Oriel had to leave her homeland for Los Angeles, California, in 1997. She has since dedicated herself to the creation of cultural and academic spaces for the growing  Central American, Black and Brown communities in the U.S., helping to establish the first Central American Studies Program at California State University, Northridge in 1999, and founding the Latina/o Studies program at the University of Puget Sound in 2012.  Throughout her journey as an educator, Dr. Siu has remained a strong proponent of Ethnic Studies, contributing her research, writing and teaching to sustaining and expanding the field.

​

After becoming a mother in 2013, Dr. Siu encountered the problem all socially-conscious parents face: the lack of inspiring, empowering, historically on-point, and culturally sensitive books for children of color in the U.S.  So she decided to write her own. She is now writing the children’s book series, Rebeldita the Fearless / Rebeldita la Alegre,  published by Izote Press. In this series, Dr. Siu centralizes the power of children vis-a-vis destructive ogre-forces living in society. You can visit her website at https://www.orielmariasiu.com