The Next Chapter Book Club helps people with disabilities enjoy books, friends, and their community. In normal times, our group meets weekly in the neighborhood of our first two Friendship Houses at Dozen Bakery. Our friends visit, and read a book together, enjoying the experience of being transported to different worlds where they meet interesting characters and learn about exciting new things. Taking that journey with a group of friends makes it even more fun. Even though they’ll be reading together virtually for the time being, they’ll be reading together via Zoom.

The group is reading Book 1 in Ridley Pearson’s “Disney After Dark: The Kingdom Keepers.” In this fantastical thriller, five young teens tapped as models for theme park 'guides' find themselves pitted against Disney villains and witches that threaten both the future of Walt Disney World and the stability of the world outside its walls. Using a cutting-edge technology called DHI—which stands for both Disney Host Interactive and Daylight Hologram Imaging—Finn Whitman, an Orlando teen, and four other kids are transformed into hologram projections that guide guests through the park. The new technology turns out, however, to have unexpected effects that are both thrilling and scary.

This week’s facilitators are Rachel and Paul Chinetti.