This month, the Branson Parent Association book club met to discuss fellow Branson parent Sommer Schafer’s collection of short stories, “HOPE.” The club, run entirely by parents, listened to a live reading from Schafer, had a discussion and enjoyed traditional Alaskan snacks.
The book “HOPE” is set in Alaska and follows a group of different characters and their stories in each chapter.
“Each chapter is kind of its own story, but the characters pop in and out of all the stories, and there are some questions that are somewhat revealed at the very end, the final story,” Schafer said, “so they can stand on their own, but they are also connected.”
The different characters highlighted in the book led to good discussion.
“They’re all really engaging and quirky characters, so it was fun,” said Charlotte King, librarian and digital media specialist.
Having lived in Alaska, Schafer’s stories had been a work in progress for a long time.
“The oldest one [story] is about eight years old. That was published in a literary journal about eight years ago,” said Schafer. “And then I just kind of continued to write about the same characters in this little town over the past eight years.”
Another member of the book club also lived in Alaska and made the club even more engaging by bringing Alaskan-inspired snacks and decorations.
“They brought in all this yummy food that was tied to Alaska,” said King.
“She had a candle burning that was an Alaskan candle, she had all these Alaskan maps out, she got some reindeer sausage flown down from Alaska, we had smoked salmon, it was wonderful,” Schafer said.
Along with talking about the story, the book club also got into what it’s like to be a writer.
“We also talked about her [Schafer’s] experience in publishing and working as a literary magazine editor and what that’s like,” King said.
Schafer plans to publish another novel in the future.
“I have a really great writing group,” said Schafer. “I published a collection of short stories two years ago, and then I wrote a novel, so I’m shopping it out with different agents and publishing houses right now.”
The book club even discussed what they think will happen to writing as AI grows stronger.
“AI might have an impact on artists and their creative practice, but AI can never ever take the place of a person writing their own novels or fiction and the magic when that occurs,” King said.
After being a huge part of her life, Schafer hopes that Branson students and parents alike continue to read.
“There are so many good books out there, everyone should just read, read, read, read, as much as they can,” she said.
