Remembering my "Mirror", Michele Serros.

In her essay, Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors, Dr. Rudine Sims wrote: "Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books". I was a freshman in college when I found my mirror, writer Michele Serros.  For the first time, I felt I had read something that I could relate to completely.  I have always been a big reader.  In elementary school and middle school my favorites were the Sweet Valley series, Babysitters Club, and everything from Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, and V.C. Andrews.  These were books that were fun to read, and I learned a lot from them.  They are some of my most cherished book experiences, even today.  However, they did not reflect me, my family, my friends, or my school.  When I read Chicana Falsa, Serros' book of poems & essays, I felt like I was hanging out with a cousin or close friend.  Her book was a mirror for me. I was amazed by the fact that her story, so similar to mine, was worthy enough to be printed in a book.  Her books also serve as "windows" to millions of other readers whose lives might not exactly mirror hers, but would be enriched by reading it.  I am proud that at the ERHS Library we have "mirror" books, that reflect the lives and experiences of our school community.  In our library you can also find books that are "windows" or "sliding glass doors" that can show you a world or life experience different from your own.   Michele Serros passed in December 2015 from cancer, she was 48 years old.  You can learn more about Michele and her books at www.miralamichele.com/index.html.