Browning Book Club Shows Up for “Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home”

“Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home,” by 2023-25 Montana Poet Laureate Chris LaTray, was the winner of the 2025 Great Reads from Great Places award and many other awards. Eleven people attended the book club discussion at Medicine Spring Library in Browning on a Monday night in December. Four other members finished the book but were unable to make it to the discussion. “This is an amazing turnout for our book club, and the number of people who finished the book is unprecedented from our past experience,” Director of Library Services Aaron LaFromboise commented.

“Becoming Little Shell” is also the adult statewide read for One Book Montana. One Book Montana asks the question, “What if everyone in Montana read the same book…?” Book club members commented:

Victoria Augare stated that, “His writing was so fluid, it was a very easy book to read…when I worked in Great Falls, I recognized many of the names mentioned in his book.”

“It was amazing how much research he did. I didn’t know most of that information, and he traveled so far to get it,” said Mona Kipling.

“The book was so well written and in a style that it makes me excited to write my own memoir,” said Aaron LaFromboise.

To make the statewide read more accessible, Humanities Montana offered options including discounts on purchasing books, book club kits available for checkout, and over 700 audiobook listens. Thank you to all the partners across the state that helped make these options available: The Montana State Library, The Missoula Public Library, The Great Falls Public Library, and the Whitefish Community Library.

One Book Montana is a program of Humanities Montana and the Montana Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress. There are over 22 book clubs happening across the state between October 2025 and February 2026. It’s not too late to join! Complete this short Onboarding Form to receive more information.