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ready now – remember what I said about direct questions?
Although I cannot really expect much from someone who has been known to say:
It is NEVER an “informed” positon to go “OFF THE DERECH” OTD, it is an emotional response that is the cause of it. Begging someone to COME BACK is good, becaue it is BOTH an emotional and intellectual respons to OTD , but in keeping with halacha( Jewish Law).
I am no longer arguing with you. You have insulted a very special person several times over without even knowing who she is. Perhaps you would be shocked if you ever found out, but in the meantime you continue to make judgements on people you do not know. Like I said before, I am neither modern orthodox nor baalas teshuva, and the sem I went to has a very chashuv hanhala, many of whom would agree with much of what I have said over the course of this thread. Can I drop you some names? Rabbi Dovid Kaplan, Rabbi Zev Leff, Rabbi Elimelech Meiesels, to name just a few. I doubt they would agree with your position that reading works of fiction is totally assur. I thank you for wasting much of my time, since you are never going to admit that you are ever wrong.
notasheep: I have come to the conclusion that ready now posts while drunk, so I wouldn’t give him much mind:
The problem is many others feel the same as RN and they are the ones chasing people away and then they beg them to come back.
They have been so soured by Yiddishkeite no amount of begging is going to work
This post was originally meant to help a teacher find material, not argue about philosophy, OTD or who-knows-what. If you have a problem with secular literature being taught in schools, could you please do many of us a favor and begin a new thread elsewhere? Thank you.
That said; some great titles would include:
– The Mysterious Island and The Meteor Hunt (both by Jules Verne) – technically The Mysterious Island is a sequel to “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”, but it can be read as a standalone, and is much more exciting to a modern reader than its predecessor. The Mysterious Island is also more of an adventure book, while The Meteor Hunt is a bit more complex thematically.
-To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) -Usually read somewhere between 8th and 10th grade in most high schools, but if your girls haven’t read it yet they may enjoy it. That being said, every year we teach it at my school there is at least one girl (or her parents) who objects to the language and subject matter, so be ready with a back-up if you choose this novel.
-Life is So Good: One Man’s Extraordinary Journey through the 20th Century and How he Learned to Read at Age 98 – While the first chapter details the author’s eye witness account of a lynching, overall the book is clean and very inspirational/upbeat. You could also use it to teach literary devices such as perspective, voice, and setting.
-The Crazy Man (Pamela Porter) – This book is pretty popular among Canadian English Teachers right now. Clean, interesting and written in a very unique format. Definitely worth checking out.
-The Human Comedy (William Saroyan) – Easy to understand and analyze, and has some great themes and devices to explore. The ending is sad, and there is one chapter (page and a half long) you may choose to skip.
-Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass – Plenty of humor if you’re looking for upbeat work and will get your student’s heads working hard as they try to untangle the puns and meanings. If you do use this, be aware that there are plenty of sick people out there who will attempt to explain the books in disgusting lights. Ignore them.
-Call of the Wild and White Fang – Great books; they’re neither depressing nor upbeat. They sort of just “are”. They’re written well and are interesting though.
One more that I remembered afterwards (hopefully this will quiet those who are going nuts over the lack of Jewish-authored, Jewish subject material for English classes)–The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln. I photocopy chapters and bring them in for girls to read. Few have the patience to read the entire book, but if you pick the right sections, especially ones corresponding to the History or Historia periods they’re learning, they really get into them.
OOM – ready now seems to be drunk rather a lot then… Thanks for the link, btw, did you see him/her refer to themselves in the third person?
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