Welcome to JBU Reads

In a previous life, I taught English at Glendale High School in Springfield, MO. For several years, I assigned Chaim Potok's The Chosen. What surprised me, initially, was that my students were unable to see any connections between the characters' lives and their own: the characters are Jewish and most of my students were not; the characters live in New York and my students did not; the novel is set during WWII and we were reading in the twenty-first century. As a teacher, I had to do a lot of cheerleading and judo tricks to convince my students that The Chosen would be one of the most "human" books they would ever read. So, my hope for you is that you do not get bogged down with petty differences. Try to find yourself in this novel; be open to how this book may change the way you think about your parents, God, education, and the friendships you will cultivate here at JBU.

Please come back to this blog weekly. Each Monday throughout the summer, there will be a different student blogging his/her reading experience. Leave comments. And, if you become interested in joining the bloggers, just send me an email.

Happy Reading,
Dr. Jake Stratman