Use Your Words

Jack shares his review of Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Klara shares her review of Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Tate shares his review of Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Aidan shares his review of A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Madison shares her review of Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

John shares his review of Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard by Rick Riordan

Juliet shares her review of All This Time by Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott

Jack shares his review of The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Vivien shares her review of Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Childress shares her review of Twilight by Stefanie Meyer

Finley shares her review of When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson

Sarah shares her review of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Mackenzie shares her review of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Mary Allison and Olivia share their perspectives on The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Ruby shares her review of The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Nick shares his review of Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad

Sam, Reagan, Wynn, Sawyer, and Lawson each share their perspective on Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

Millie shares a review of the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage

Lily shares a review of Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter

Henry shares a review of We Are Not Free by Tracy Chee

Grayson shares a review of The Slummer by Geoffrey Simpson

Book reviews from June (The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas), Magovern (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins), Charlotte (Other Words from Home by Jasmine Warga), Sarah Carter (New Kid by Jerry Craft), Libby (Today, Tonight, Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon), and Umber (Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi).

Book Reviews from Norah (Lovely War by Julie Berry), Matthew (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams), Jonah (Lost in the Pacific 1942: Not a Drop to Drink by Tod Olson), Ryan (Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay), Tucker (The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton), and James (And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie)

Book Reviews from Foster (Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee), Clara (The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton), Jack (Escape from Warsaw by Ian Serrillier), and Kinsley (Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz)

A conversation between Sam and Rebekah to take you behind the scenes of the 8th grade book review mini-cast project.

Featuring reviews of Commander in Cheat by Rick Reilly, The Good Girls by Clara Eliza Bartlett, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, and Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean

Our student June describes Holocaust survivor Clara Daniels as a well dressed, soft spoken woman who survived the unspeakable. Clara lived in Hungary during WWII, and was sent to Auschwitz after Hitler's invasion in 1944. In Auschwitz, Clara experienced true horrors, like being forced to watch executions, do hard labor, and suffer starvation. But June tells us that along with luck, Clara’s positive spirit and connection to other women helped her to survive the concentration camp. June was saddened to learn of Clara's death in 2018, and this episode is dedicated to Clara's life and memory. 

George Landecker is a happy, kind, bald, slow speaking, gentle 84 year old man wearing a white and blue striped shirt. Prior to WW2, George had a pretty good life living with a middle class family in a decent sized home. Despite his father thinking “he was more of a German than a Jew,” this all changed in 1939 at the onset of the war. In this episode, our seventh grade student, Sam, reveals how George’s life was thrown into chaos.

Julianna Toth, a Holocaust survivor, was born into world war in 1941. Listen to seventh grader Molly retell Julianna and her family's harrowing experiences of living through the Holocaust and Russian occupation of Hungary from the 1930s to 1967. This epic story spans generations, providing listeners with context of WW2 and Cold War hostility toward the Jewish people and the Jew's power to overcome discrimination.

Otto Schimmel, from Budapest hungary, survived three Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, one of which was the infamous Auschwitz II-Birkenau death camp. Our seventh grader, Myles, tells us Otto's story by emulating the Otto's stream-of-consciousness interview, making the episode feel personal-- Myle's  own grandfather’s grandmother was killed in the Holocaust. Overall, Myles hopes that by retelling Otto Schimmel's story, he can preserve Otto's story in history, so that others can be inspired by it. 

Ursula Murden, a religious Lutheran, was persecuted for being an ethnic Jew during the Holocaust. Despite her horrific journey, Ursula experienced many acts of kindness from Germans as well. Listen to our student Libby retell Ursula's story. Ultimately, Libby concludes, “we categorize Germany as the villain, but we have to remember not all of Germany is the villain, just the hateful people and Nazis”

The best summation of this episode comes from our student, Roman, who tells Steven's story in this episode: Steven Kende’s life is best described by this quote from Golden Son by Pierce Brown, “All that we have is that shout into the wind - how we live. How we go. And how we stand before we fall.¨ During the Holocaust all Steven Kende had was that shout into the wind -- how he lived and stood before enormous adversity. Steven Kende survived four concentration camps, lost nine family members and gained only nightmares of the past during the Holocaust. When asked what he thinks the most important thing we should learn from the Holocaust Steven Kende simply said: “That we never do it again.”

This is the story of Agnes Heller, who survived the ghettoization and bombing of her hometown in Hungary from 1944-1945. Let our student Sophi's soft voice carry you through Agnes' experience during WWII. Like all Holocaust survivors, Agnes' story is unique, but carries a similar message to many of our other stories this season. Sophi says she learned the how hope can prevail, even in the toughest of times. And that the power of family is priceless.

When Roger Loria was born in 1940, Belgium was invaded by the Nazi Germans. He was only three weeks old at the time. So, in 1940, his family decided to try and flee from Belgium. Escaping with Roger was his father, Wolf Loria, his mother, Dina Maisel, his Great uncle Hiem, and his great uncle’s children. Roger’s family felt as if they were refugees walking down the streets. There was no food, and travel was very difficult on the road away from the Germans. Sadly the escape attempt was unsuccessful. Roger’s family, along with others escaping Belgium were caught in-between British and German forces at Dunkirk. The Germans forced the refugees back to Belgium. Ultimately, Roger's family went into hiding to save him, allowing him to grow up to develop a successful treatment for cancer during his career as a medical scientist in the United States. This Roger's story.

A patient woman sits in a grey padded chair and waits. Her name is Panina Leviatan. She was a studious girl when she was younger, and was a student when her world was shattered. Panina Leviatan would survive the Holocaust. In this episode, Gretchen recounts Panina's life as a student in Lithuania and her escape of the Jewish genocide in Europe by fleeing to Israel.

Born in Poland in 1924, Alan Zimm and his brother Sol, were the sole survivors of the Holocaust in their family. Through luck, calculated decisions and shere willpower, Alan made it through ghettos and a concentration work camp to ultimately be rescued by the English in 1945, one month prior to V-E Day. Our seventh grader, Matthew, provides a concise and compelling view of Alan Zimm's experience and determination during the Holocaust. Alan Zimm recently passed away after testing positive for COVID-19. This episode is dedicated to his life and memory.

Before Halina Zimm was separated from her family in the midst of the Holocaust, her father told her to never ever tell anyone she was Jewish. From that moment on Halina became Wanda Kazusek. Though Halina's new identity helped protect her from being murdered by the Nazis, Halina knew she would never see her family again. During the war, Halina used her fake identity to work as a maid for various German families, including officers in the German military.

Solomon Zimm, Sol for short, is the brother of Alan Zimm (one of our other featured Holocaust survivors this season). Alan and Sol were the only members of their family to survive the Holocaust, and Sol's story is incredible. Sol was first captured in 1939 as part of the Polish army defending Hitler's invasion, and was put in a POW camp. Afterwards, the Nazis transferred Sol from concentration camp to concentration camp throughout the war, spending most of his time at the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau. There, every hair on his body was shaved; he got a number tattooed on his arm, and was dumped in a bath of lye to prevent the spread of lice. Seventh grader Grayson tells us that Sol's survival is nothing short of a miracle, and it is one that you have to hear to believe.

In one of the most unique episodes of this season, our student Eila retells the story of Inga Asher. Born in Berlin, Germany in 1920, Inga and her family experienced the horrors of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, first hand. Her father's shop was destroyed, and the Jewish community in Berlin came under direct, violent threat. To save the family, Inga's father bought all of them tickets to a place as far away from Berlin as seemingly possible-- Shanghai, China. Inga and her family made the incredible journey to Shanghai, avoiding the worst of the Holocaust, but soon found themselves forcibly moved from their home into the Jewish ghetto of Shanghai. Inga's story shows the geographical reach of the Nazi's influence, the breadth of global anti-Semitism, and the power of the Jewish community.

The date is September 1st, 1939, and it’s a normal day for 12 year-old Jewish Ted Lehman. He is visiting his grandmother in Zawiercie, Poland when word begins to spread that the Nazis are invading. In that moment and the years after, everything changed for Ted. The life as he knew it stopped and a new, horrible one began.

Edna B. Ipson, her children and her husband Israel were some of the only 500 Jews living in Lithuania to survive the Nazi extermination there. Our student Lila takes us through the horrific and unbelievable story of Edna's life, showing us that Edna lived her life for her children before during and after the Holocaust. Through ingenuity, luck, and sheer force of will, Edna and Israel were able to save their family from Hitler's final solution, ultimately allowing her son Jay Ipson to move to Richmond, Virginia and co-found the Virginia Holocaust Museum.

In this episode, seventh grade student, Liam, recounts the harrowing story of Holocaust survivor, Samuel Althaus. Separated from family, Samuel was relocated countless times and survived both Auschwitz-Birkenau and Dachau concentration camps. Liam details life in concentration camps, and how prisoners worked together to survive.

We, Rebekah O'Dell and Samantha Futrell, are just thrilled to welcome you back to Use Your Words for our SIXTH season! We are so excited! Particularly, we are excited to introduce you to our new Use Your Words host, Reid McBride. In this episode, Reid, Sam and Rebekah take you through this year's seventh grade Holocaust and WW2 podcast project. Students created these podcast episodes in the midst of a global pandemic and quarantine, without ever stepping foot in our physical the classrooms during the course of the project. This created many challenges for everyone involved, but it also led to some surprising successes. Listen to find out how we structured this project and how you can repurpose it for your own classroom-- in person or online.

In this episode, listen to the story of Holocaust Survivor Rosalia (Rosalina) Katz Kaplan. Rosalia made her way through the Resistance network in Holland to an estimated 20 different safe houses while hiding from the Nazis as a young girl from 1941-1944. After being captured in 1944, Rosalia survived three concentration camps, including Auschwitz, where she was used for medical experiments. Despite her incredible experiences, Rosalia shared a message of love and tolerance with students around the state of Virginia until she died in 2017. This story is an abridged version her 2006 interview recorded by the Virginia Holocaust Museum.

Emerson wants listeners to know more about how Richmond has changed in the past fifty years. In this episode, her family history and what Richmond was like when her mother and grandmother lived inside the city. They compare the differences between that time period and now from two residents' perspectives.

In this episode, Preston talks about the Huyard family and how they have made their home in Virginia. Relax and listen to stories of farm life and growing up in an Amish household. It is really cool to hear the stories of these intertwined families and how their stories are brought from their youth into the 21st century.

In this podcast Sonnie will be joined by her dad, Josh, and grandpa, Steve, to talk about her family's past life and emotional geography.  She talks about their jobs, hobbies and beliefs.

In this episode, Thomas explores connections between his family- the Strickler's- and himself. 

In this episode, Molly takes a look at her paternal family: starting from the beginning when they came to America. From marriage scandals to lawsuits, Molly uncovers things she never knew about her family.  With interviews from her father and grandfather, Molly makes great discoveries.

In this episode, Will talks to his dad about living in a very small town known as Colonial Beach. He talks about what it was like to live knowing pretty much everybody in the town and what it was like to spend a childhood there. Also, he discusses how living in a small town environment might have affected his lifestyle/ personality today.  He talks about having a German mother and how that affected him as a child and much more details about Germany.

In this episode, Caroline talks to her mom and grandmother about where they have lived.  Caroline's family has connections to previous cities and homes, but they have lived in many different homes they feel as if some homes don't have as strong connections as other homes. Caroline's family has more connections to experiences and memories with each other then they feel with the homes that they have lived in.