The Reference Desk

This week, Katie is bewitched by the one and only Julia Child.

Beloved for her warm and inviting presence on screen that made her a star, Julia Child's life before she became America's favorite French cook is less well known.  Abandoning her career as a copywriter to serve her country during World War II, Julia traveled to Asia, working for the OSS, where she met her husband, Paul Cushing Child. Together, the pair moved to Paris and Julia fell in love with French cuisine.

In this first of two episodes spanning the incredible life of Julia Child, we explore her childhood, government service, education, and married life before she published her first cookbook.

This week's recommendations:

Currently reading:

The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan

The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina by Zoraida Córdova

One Last Stop by Casey McQuinston

A League of Extraordinary Women series by Evie Dunmore

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This time last year, we released what remains my absolute favorite episode I’ve researched to date. I got SO into this topic, and since we seem to have quite a few new listeners, I wanted to re-release this episode. So please enjoy as I continue to be completely bewitched by Rock and Roll Myths, Legends, and Curses. 

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In this episode, Hailee is bewitched by rock and roll myths, legends, and curses.  

Who created Rock and Roll? It’s a question that has been heavily debated and there are many possible answers. Rock has certainly had a very turbulent history. Close calls, plane crashes, heavy use of drugs and alcohol, mysterious deaths, just to name a few. Join us this week as Hailee tells the tale of Robert Johnson who may have sold his soul at the crossroads to become an amazing musician, the 27 club, which claims the lives of numerous rock and roll legends at the age of 27, and the Buddy Holly Curse. 

For more information and a full list of our sources, visit our website.  
Recommended titles: 
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London 
Take a Walk on the Dark Side: Rock and Roll Myths, Legends, and Curses by R. Gary Patterson What We Don't Talk about When We Talk about Fat by Aubrey Gordon 
The Day you Begin by Jacqueline Woodson 
Jookin': The Rise of Social Dance Formations in African-American Culture by Katrina Hazzard-Gordon 
The Walrus Was Paul: The Great Beatle Death Clues by R. Gary Patterson 
Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues by Elijah Wald 
Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll by the editors of Rolling Stone 
The Devil and the Bluebird by Jennifer Mason-Black  \

If you're interested in purchasing the books mentioned in this episode, visit our bookshop.org affiliate shop.  

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Dearest reader,

As the social season draws near and the second season of Bridgerton is ready to premier this week, we are rereleasing Katie’s episode on Debutants and the London Season! Consider this your exclusive invitation to learn all about this bizarre ritual dating back hundreds of years and shockingly still happening in some capacity today, along with all of its problematic history of sexism, classism and racism. 

Please enjoy Katie’s deep dive into the realm of the ultra-exlusive debutante social scene. 

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In this episode, Katie is bewitched with the debutantes of the London social season. 

Since the late 1700s, Britain's most eligible young ladies have been presented to society during London's social season. Providing the framework for our favorite novels like Pride and Prejudice, debutante society hides a deeply problematic world of sexism, racism, classism, and more. In this deep-dive into the beginnings and evolution of this bizarre ritual, we explore the realm of the ultra-exclusive debutante social scene. 

For more information, and a list of all our sources, visit our website. 

Titles recommended in this episode: 

The Season: A Social History of the Debutante by Kristen Richardson

The Husband Hunters: Social Climbing in London and New York by Anne de Courcy and Clare Corbett

Women of Means: The Fascinating Biographies of Royals, Heiresses, Eccentrics, and Other Poor Little Rich Girls by Margaret Wagman-Gellar

The Bridgertons Series by Julia Quinn

Belgravia by Julian Fellowes

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

The Debutantes series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

If you're interested in purchasing the books mentioned in this episode, visit our bookshop.org affiliate shop

Links:

The 10 Dos and Don’ts of Etiquette to Become a Lady in Regency England

Debutante balls and the persistent obsession with the purity of young women

Queer in the Regency: a Slice of Once-Hidden LGBT History

Gender roles in the 19th century

Love and Courtship in Regency England

The London Season

The Racist History of Prom

The Curious Plight of the Modern Debutante

The History of British Slave Ownership Has Been Buried

'Princess Seraphina' Steps Out at Vauxhill Gardens

A Survivor's Guide to Georgian Marriage

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Join us as we finish the story of Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger Disaster. 

In part 2, Hailee tells us how Christa won the Teacher in Space position out of thousands of applicants, how she trained for weeks and gives brief bios for the rest of the Challenger crew. We will also learn how this disaster very well could have been avoided. 

What We're Reading

• Verity by Colleen Hoover
• The Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
• The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
• Watercress by Andrea Wang and Jason Chin
• A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C & Erin E. Stead

If you are interested in any of the books we talk about on this episode, please consider using our affiliate link through Bookshop.org!

Recommended Reading

Non-Fiction

• The burning blue: the untold story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA's Challenger disaster by Kevin Cook
• Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster by Allan McDonald and James Hansen
• Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew by Michael D. Leinbach and Jonathan H. Ward.
• Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Sheterly
• How We Got to the Moon: the people, technology, and daring feats of science behind humanity's greatest adventureby John Rocco

Fiction

• We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly
• Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos

History of Spaceflight

The Space Race

NASA Group 8

Teacher in Space Program 

Christa McAuliffe 

1970s: Kennedy Dispatches Probes to Far Reaches as Apollo Ends

1980s: All Eyes Focus on Space Shuttle

35 Years Ago: Remembering Challenger and Her Crew

Utah engineers' warning was ignored before Challenger explosion 30 years ago

Christa’s Lost Lessons

Rogers Commission Report

Challenger Engineer Who Warned Of Shuttle Disaster Dies

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/02/06/146490064/remembering-roger-boisjoly-he-tried-to-stop-shuttle-challenger-launch

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This week, Hailee tells us about Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger disaster in this two-part episode! 

In part 1, Hailee gives us a (brief, layman’s version) history of the beginnings of the space age and the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States. You will also learn about Astronaut Group 8, the most diverse group of astronauts NASA ever employed up to that point and we will learn about the decision to begin the Teach in Space program that will introduce us to the amazing Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire teacher chosen to be the first citizen in space. We also learn that if you break the moon, you have to pay for the moon. 

Stay tuned next week for part 2, along with all of our recommended reading! 

Links

History of Spaceflight

The Space Race

NASA Group 8

Teacher in Space Program 

Christa McAuliffe 

1970s: Kennedy Dispatches Probes to Far Reaches as Apollo Ends

1980s: All Eyes Focus on Space Shuttle

35 Years Ago: Remembering Challenger and Her Crew

Utah engineers' warning was ignored before Challenger explosion 30 years ago

Christa’s Lost Lessons

Rogers Commission Report

Challenger Engineer Who Warned Of Shuttle Disaster Dies

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/02/06/146490064/remembering-roger-boisjoly-he-tried-to-stop-shuttle-challenger-launch

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In this FIRST-EVER in-person episode of The Reference Desk, Katie and Hailee talk about banned books.

In recent months, the number of challenged books has skyrocketed. Politicians and parents across the country have called for the removal of books that feature LGBTQIA+ references and material that may make white students feel uncomfy. Katie and Hailee tell you the history of book bans, talk you through how challenges are handled, explore current challenged material, and share their thoughts on actions to stop censorship.

Highlights:
What the ALA has to say about the recent uptick in book challenges.
How material challenges are handled in public and school libraries.
How libraries in Texas and Virginia are handling an onslaught in challenged material.
Guess that banned book!
Currently challenged books.
How you can help support your local schools, libraries, and marginalized communities in the face of book bans.

Currently reading:
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

Recommendations:
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
New Kid by Jerry Kraft
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Melissa's Story (Formerly titled "George") by Alex Gino
Something Happened in Our Town  by Ann Hazzard, Marianne Celano, and Marietta Collins
All American Boys by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Links: 
ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom
Red Wine and Blue's Book Ban Busters
The Unicorn Express
Free Little Library
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

For all our sources, resources about banned books , and links to all our recommended reading, visit https://thereferencedeskpod.com

Support the show on Patreon! 

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In this episode of The Reference Desk, Katie is bewitched by unexplained disappearances.

Each year, nearly 90,000 people are listed as missing in America. People of color and Indigenous women make up a large percentage of missing people, despite accounting for smaller percentages of the population. No one group is immune from disappearances, but statistically, BIPOC people are more likely to remain missing. In this week’s show, Katie tells us about some of the unexplained disappearances that have been on her mind. 

· The mysterious disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley, who vanished from a  Royal Caribbean ship in 1998.
· The search for Daniel Robinson, a hydrogeologist who vanished in the desert of Arizona in June 2021.
·  A look at how the reaction and media coverage of Daniel Robinson’s case varied so greatly from that of Gabby Petito.
· The strange disappearance of world-famous mystery writer Agatha Christie in 1926, which sparked the largest search operation in British history up until that point.
· Where Agatha turned up eleven days after abandoning her car near a chalk pit.
· The disappearance and believed murder of Faith Lindsey, a Chickasaw woman from Oklahoma
·  The difficulties in charging Lindsey’s alleged killer and how it is indicative of a larger problem in prosecuting crimes on indigenous land.
·   An overview of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis in the U.S. and Canada.
·   The strange disappearance of Owen Parfitt, a paralyzed man who vanished from his sister’s porch in 1763.
· The tale of the ghost ship Mary Celeste found sailing erratically with no people aboard days after departing New York harbor with Captain Briggs, his family, and a crew of men. 
·  The seemingly-supernatural disappearance of British diplomat Benjamin Bathurst in 1809. 

This week's recommendations
Currently reading: 

Sunrise by the Sea by Jenny Colgan 

Dear Librarian by Lydia M. Sigwarth and Romina Galotta

Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson (advanced copy)

 Non-fiction:

Missing 411 series by David Paulides

True Crime Addict by James Renner

Say Her Name film produced by The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana

Somebody’s Daughter film directed by Rain

Fiction: 

 From the Shadows by Juan Jose Mililas

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey

 Links: 

For all our sources, resources to on MMIW, and links to all our recommended reading, visit https://thereferencedeskpod.com

Support the show on Patreon! 

Help find Daniel Robinson https://pleasehelpfinddaniel.com

Help find Amy Lynn Bradley https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/amy-lynn-bradley

 If you have information about the murder of Faith Lindsey, email: [email protected]

 Urban Indian Health Institute’s Report on MMIW: https://www.uihi.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Missing-and-Murdered-Indigenous-Women-and-Girls-Report.pdf

National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs): https://namus.nij.ojp.gov

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Many people know and recognize the name Florence Nightingale and recognize her as the founder of modern nursing. And, while she did some amazing things for the field of nursing there was another woman who many argue was actually the first nurse practitioner, largely forgotten by history.

This week, Hailee is bewitched with Mary Seacole, a British-Jamaican nurse and businesswoman and one of the pioneers of modern nursing.

Also mentioned in this episode: the extremely problematic "tip line" created by the Governor ofVirginia to have its citizens spy on school teachers and turn them into the government. If you would like to flood this tip line, the email is [email protected]

Links

• https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/cholera-victorian-london
  https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/mary-seacole-by-jane-robinson-748262.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Seacole

Recommendations
If you are interested in purchasing any of the titles we recommend in this episode, please use our affiliate link through Bookshop.org!

• Non Fiction
  • Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands by Mary Seacole
  • Mary Seacole: Bound for the Battlefield by Susan Goldman Rubin
• Fiction
  • The rose of Sebastopol by Katherine McMahon
  • The wonder by Emma Donahugh 
• Hailee's favorite children's and YA books by Black creators: 
  • The March series of graphic novels written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell
  • The Hate u Give by Angie Thomas
  • Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
  • Punching the Air by Ibi Zaboi and Yusef Salaam**
  • Sulwe by Lupita Nyongo
  • The Lola books by Anna McQuinn
  • The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson which was the winner of the caldecott medal
  • I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C James
  • Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

** Hailee incorrectly stated the co-author of Punching the Air, Yosef Salaam, was part of the individuals called the Central Park Four by the media. It is, however, the Central Park Five now, thankfully, the Exonerated Five! I apologize!

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In this episode of The Reference Desk, Katie is bewitched by the incredible story of Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine.

Following the landmark Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, all school districts were instructed to begin integrating public buildings. But in Little Rock, Arkansas, the resistance to integration became a national spectacle. As Governor Orval Faubus went to extreme lengths to keep Little Rock's Central High segregated, nine brave African American students stepped up to confront him. The teenagers were selected and aided by Civil Rights activist Daisy Bates, local NAACP president, newspaper owner, and all-around champion for change. Together, Bates, the Little Rock Nine, and their courageous families changed the American education system. But since the 1980s, American schools have started to become more segregated. We explore the factors surrounding the complicated issue and examine how the education of Black children in America has been shaped throughout our history. 

Links: 

Still Separate, Still Unequal: Teaching About School Segregation and Educational Inequality (NYT article Katie mentions)

U.S. school segregation in the 21st century

Little Rock Nine: the day young students shattered racial segregation

Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine

Inside the Rosenwald Schools

Little Rock Nine Foundation

Nice White Parents podcast

What we are reading: 

Katie: Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

Hailee: Songteller by Dolly Parton

Recommended this week: see our Bookshop affiliate page for all of our recommendation or to purchase a title!

A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School by Carlotta Walls Lanier

Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals

The Worst First Day: Bullied While Desegregating Central High by Elizabeth Eckford

The Lost Education of Horace Tate by Vanessa Siddle Walker

Children of the Dream: Why School Integration Works by Rucker C. Johnson and Alexander Nazaryan

The Long Ride by Marina Budhos

What's Mine and Yours by Naima Coster

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

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This week on the Reference Desk, Hailee is bewitched by stories of children who remember having a past life. While reincarnation is a common belief and philosophy in Eastern religions and traditions, it is not as common in the West. Yet, two researchers have investigated over 2000 cases of children in the United States who have reported experiencing memories of a past life. 

What We Are Reading

• Graveminder by Melissa Marr
• Songteller by Dolly Parton
• Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

Recommendations

• Return to Life by Jim Tucker
• Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife Leslie Kean
• Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot by Bruce and Andrea Leininger
• My Name Is Memory by Anne Brashers
• The Ghost Inside My Child (A&E Show)

If you are interested in purchasing any of the books we have recommended in this episode, please consider using our affiliate link at Bookshop.org! 

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