Becoming Little Shell

Winner of the Reading the West Book AwardWinner of the Pacific Northwest Book AwardA People Best Memoir of the YearA Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction of the Year SelectionA Book Riot Best Book of the Year“I’m in awe of Chris La Tray’s storytelling.Becoming Little Shell creates a multilayered narrative from threads of personal, family, community, tribal, and national histories.”-Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding SweetgrassGrowing up in Montana, Chris La Tray always identified as Indian.Despite the fact that his father fiercely denied any connection, he found Indigenous people alluring, often recalling his grandmother’s consistent mention of their Chippewa heritage. When La Tray attended his grandfather’s funeral as a young man, he finally found himself surrounded by relatives who obviously were Indigenous. “Who were they?” he wondered, and “Why was I never allowed to know them?” Combining diligent research and compelling conversations with authors, activists, elders, and historians,