Name: Books & Beer: "The House of My Mother" by Shari Franke
Start: 2026-02-19T19:15:00-06:00
End: 2026-02-19T21:15:00-06:00
Location: BlueBricks

Books & Beer: "The House of My Mother" by Shari Franke

📍 Location: Blue Bricks, Mankato
📅 Date: Thursday, February 19, 2026
🕕 Time: 7:15 PM following Read & Roam event
Come ready to sit and chat about your book! Bring your own book or read this month’s book of choice “The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers. Reading the book is not required, but it sure makes the conversation more interesting!
- Don’t forget to think about what you would like our next read to be. At the end of the meetup, we’ll go around the circle and share our recommendations and decide which one wins out by simple popular vote.

Book description...
Shari Franke’s childhood was a constant battle for survival. Her mother, Ruby Franke, enforced a severe moral code while maintaining a façade of a picture-perfect family for their wildly popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which documented the day-to-day life of raising six children for a staggering 2.5 million subscribers. But a darker truth lurked beneath the surface—Ruby’s wholesome online persona masked a more tyrannical parenting style than anyone could have imagined.
As the family’s YouTube notoriety grew, so too did Ruby’s delusions of righteousness. Fueled by the sadistic influence of relationship coach Jodi Hildebrandt, together they implemented an inhumane and merciless disciplinary regime.
Ruby and Jodi were arrested in Utah in 2023 on multiple charges of aggravated child abuse. On that fateful day, Shari shared a photo online of a police car outside their home. Her caption had one word: “Finally.”
For the first time, Shari will reveal the disturbing truth behind 8 Passengers and her family’s devastating involvement with Jodi Hildebrandt’s cultish life coaching program, “ConneXions.” No stone is left unturned as Shari exposes the perils of influencer culture and shares for the first time her battle for truth and survival in the face of her mother’s cruelty.