Explore a piece of Montana history, a heart-warming novel and true stories from small-town America during August’s book club meetings.

The Montana History Book Club meets Aug. 8 to discuss “Sacagawea’s Son: The Life of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau,” by Marion Tinling.

Sacagawea’s son first appears in stories of the Lewis and Clark expedition but is rarely mentioned in any historical accounts after that. The author researches as much as possible about how Charbonneau lived his life.

This book is available at the museum gift shop.

The club meets at 6:30 p.m. in the basement conference room at the Museum at Central School, 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell. The public is welcome to attend.

For more information, call Diane at 752-0204.

Bad Rock Books Discussion Group meets Aug. 15 to talk about Aryn Kyle’s “The God of Animals.”

When her older sister runs away to marry a rodeo cowboy, Alice Winston is left to bear the brunt of her family's troubles — a depressed, bedridden mother; a reticent, overworked father; and a run-down horse ranch. As the hottest summer in 15 years unfolds and bills pile up, Alice is torn between dreams of escaping the loneliness of her duty-filled life and a longing to help her father mend their family and the ranch.

Kyle is a University of Montana creative writing program graduate. The book’s first chapter, “Foaling Season,” won the National Magazine Award for Fiction in Atlantic Monthly. Her story “Allegiance” is included in “The Best American Short Stories 2007” compilation.

Books are available at Costco and at Bad Rock Books, located on Nucleus Avenue in Columbia Falls.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Bad Rock Books. All are welcome. Treats are provided.

For more information, call Carol Rocks at 892-0515.

The Whitefish Library Book Discussion Group meets Aug. 28 to discuss “Population: 485 — Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time,” by Michael Perry.

In New Auburn, Wis., the local vigilante is a farmer’s wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. “Population: 485” is a comic and sometimes heartbreaking true tale leavened with quieter meditations on an overlooked America.

The book may be available for checkout.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the library meeting room. All are welcome.

For more information, call the library at 862-9914.