This month we review Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng. Nancy thinks this would have been a perfect Mother’s Day month book since it centers on the relationship between a boy, Bird, and his mom, Margaret. This near-future novel is set in an authoritarian United States. Margaret has disappeared because her poetry has been used by the resistance. When Bird receives a mysterious letter, he is set on the journey to find his mother. Linda loved how the author created a believable path to an authoritarian United States. Nancy liked how Celeste Ng created a history that brought the United States where children are being taken from their parents if they don’t espouse the correct ideology. Linda notes that Ng also creates a believable scapegoating of China and Chinese-Americans. Nancy remarks this was similar to the violence against Chinese-Americans during COVID, or, in fact, anyone who looks vaguely Chinese. Linda recalls a scene from the book where Margaret is talking with a Choctaw grandmother who relates real life experiences where the United States did separate parents from their children. She mentions the Carlisle Indian School where thousands of native children were sent from 1879 through 1918. The idea was to assimilate students into the mainstream culture, with a mission to “kill the Indian” to “save the Man.” And, it’s not like it stopped after that: After World War II, government authorities removed thousands of American Indian children from their families and placed them in non-Indian foster or adoptive families. By the late 1960s, an estimated 25 to 35 percent of American Indian children had been separated from their families. Carlisle Indian School is just down the road from Linny and she said there is a Carlisle Indian School Project that is coming to terms with the forced separations and graves of children are still being locating and remains being returned to their tribes. Nancy notes that the Choctaw grandmother also alludes to the Trump administration “zero tolerance” policy, dictating that all migrants who cross the border without permission, including those seeking asylum, be imprisoned, and any accompanying children under the age of 18 taken from their parents and scattered in shelters. Within a month of the implementation of this policy, journalists and human rights advocates gained access to an old warehouse in McAllen, Texas, where hundreds of children were being kept in a series of cages made of metal fencing. The Associated Press reports that overhead lighting stays on around the clock, children sleep under “large foil sheets,” older children are forced to change the diapers of toddlers and that children have no books or toys. Over 5,000 children have been separated from their parents and, as of February 2023, approximately 1,000 children have not yet been reunited with their parents. Linda liked how Ng sets up different experiences with separation with Sadie, who was forcibly removed from her parents, and Bird who still has his father. Nancy also liked how Bird starts questioning PACT (the law that introduces an authoritarian structure) through his relationship with Sadie. Nancy also thought of the Japanese interment camps that imprisoned US citizens of Japanese heritage during World War II. Nancy likes how Ng shows how wealthy people are able to weather the Crisis and authoritarianism through the character of Domi. And, how Margaret and Domi support one another. Linda had to laugh at the heroic role librarians play in the book. She knew Nancy would appreciate this since Nancy loves libraries so much. Nancy relates that she loved how Interlibrary Loans were the mechanism for subversive information sharing. Nancy loves and uses Interlibrary Loans all the time. Nancy relays, in fact, the day before their conversation, she spent 3 hours at a local library branch. Nancy loves how the story opens with Bird’s perspective. He has been ostracized by his classmates. He sort of believes what the school has taught him about PACT. We don’t understand why he and his father left their home and now live in a dorm. We don’t understand why his former professor father now works in the library. We certainly don’t understand why his father is so harsh and overly-protective and claims he is glad Margaret is gone. Nancy also likes how we slowly learn about Margaret and her believable journey from keeping her head down to civil disobedience. Linda likes how realistically Ng portrays the awkward and uncertain reunification of Bird and Margaret. Bird is no longer the boy Margaret left. Margaret has missed crucial years of Bird’s development. She is no longer the mother Bird remembers. Bird doesn’t understand how much his mom loves him. Linny likes a happy ending, so did not love the ending. Nancy liked how it realistically portrayed how people give their lives to stand up to injustice.