Our Missing Hearts

68 pages • 2 hours read

Our Missing Hearts

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Introduction

Before Reading

During Reading

After Reading

During Reading

Reading Questions & Paired Texts

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

PART 1, CHAPTERS 1-4

Reading Check

1. What was Noah’s mother’s occupation before she left?

2. What animals are in the drawing Margaret sends to Bird?

3. What book does Bird ask about at the library?

4. What does Bird use to get into the library?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why did Noah start going by “Noah” again?

2. What does PACT outlaw?

3. What happened to Sadie’s parents?

4. Why aren’t there books at Bird’s school?

5. Why was Bird’s father late coming home one evening?

Paired Resource

“For Literary Novelists the Past Is Pressing”

This New York Times essay by Jonathan Lee is about writers who draw on the past in their novels.
Shared themes include The Power of Storytelling and The Dangers of Racism in Society.
How does this essay help us to understand how Ng might be responding to contemporary events in American society?

PART 1, CHAPTERS 5-7

Reading Check

1. What does Bird find in the cupboard where he used to hide?

2. Where does Bird go to find his mother?

3. What does Bird leave with his note for his father?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why hasn’t Bird’s father sold their old house?

2. Why does the librarian help children separated from their parents?

3. Why does Bird feel powerful in Chinatown?

Paired Resource

“from ‘What kinds of times are these?’”

This poem by Penina Ava Taesali discusses the separation of children from their parents at border crossings.
Shared themes include The Dangers of Racism in Society and The Importance of Family.
How does this poem connect to the separation that Sadie and Bird each experience from their parents?

PART 2, CHAPTERS 1-4

Reading Check

1. In what city did Margaret go to college?

2. How did Ethan get a job at Harvard?

3. What poem does Margaret get published as the Crisis seems to be winding down?

4. Who tells Margaret about the forced separation of children from their parents?

5. What objects does Margaret hide around the city?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why were Margaret’s parents careful to dress her up like other American children?

2. What was the Crisis?

3. Why did Domi feel like Margaret betrayed society when she moved in with Ethan?

4. Why is Margaret investigated by the government?

5. What does Bird say when Margaret decides to give up on her mission?

Paired Resource

“More Than 9,000 Anti-Asian Incidents Have Been Reported Since the Pandemic Began”

This Associated Press article discusses the racist incidents in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how Asian Americans have been targeted by this violence.
Shared themes include The Dangers of Racism in Society.
How does the novel seem to address or relate to the real-world effects of COVID-19?

PART 3, CHAPTERS 1-4

Reading Check

1. Where does Domi drive Sadie and Bird?

2. What are in the bottle caps?

3. Who comes with Domi to pick up Sadie and Bird?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What happens when Margaret tells the stories of separated families?

2. Why was Domi delayed in returning for Sadie and Bird?

3. Through what medium does Bird think he will reunite with his mother?

Paired Resource

“Celeste Ng Did Not Set Out to Write This Book”

This Time Magazine interview with Celeste Ng by Lucy Feldman details Ng’s writing process for Our Missing Hearts, as well as her approach to writing it.
Shared themes include The Power of Storytelling and The Dangers of Racism in Society.
How is Ng’s approach to the relationship between reader and the book similar or different to the one that Margaret has with her followers?

Recommended Next Reads

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

A classic novel exploring literary censorship in a dystopian society
Shared themes include The Power of Storytelling.
Shared topics include censorship, dystopia, and societal control.
Fahrenheit 451 on SuperSummary

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

A novel about racial tensions in Shaker Heights, Ohio, as a Black woman and her daughter move into a predominantly white neighborhood
Shared themes include The Importance of Family and The Dangers of Racism in Society.
Shared topics include the role of art, motherhood, and racial tensions.
Little Fires Everywhere on SuperSummary

Reading Questions Answer Key

PART 1, CHAPTERS 1-4

Reading Check

1. A poet (Part 1, Chapter 1)

2. Cats (Part 1, Chapter 1)

3. Our Missing Hearts; students may write The Boy Who Drew Cats, but the librarian finds this for Bird (Part 1, Chapter 3)

4. His father’s ID (Part 1, Chapter 4)

Short Answer

1. His mother left, and his father didn’t want any traces of her in his life. (Part 1, Chapter 1)

2. PACT, which stands for Preserving American Culture and Traditions, punishes “un-American” values and behavior. It requires that citizens report those who might be engaging in un-American acts to the government and says that it protects children. (Part 1, Chapter 1)

3. Sadie’s parents were taken away because they supposedly protested PACT. (Part 1, Chapter 1)

4. They were deemed harmful to students. (Part 1, Chapter 2)

5. He had to pull books out for the FBI. (Part 1, Chapter 4)

PART 1, CHAPTERS 5-7

Reading Check

1. A note (Part 1, Chapter 5)

2. New York City (Part 1, Chapter 7)

3. His mother’s cat drawing (Part 1, Chapter 7)

Short Answer

1. Bird’s father hasn’t sold the house because Bird’s mother isn’t around to sign for it. (Part 1, Chapter 5)

2. The librarian helps children because she once had two of her own, both of whom died during the Crisis because medical conditions were so bad. (Part 1, Chapter 6)

3. Bird feels powerful because he has never been surrounded by so many other Asian people before. (Part 1, Chapter 7).

PART 2, CHAPTERS 1-4

Reading Check

1. New York City (Part 2, Chapter 2)

2. Through his father (Part 2, Chapter 2)

3. “Our Missing Hearts” (Part 2, Chapter 2)

4. Mrs. Adelman, Marie’s librarian (Part 2, Chapter 3)

5. Bottle caps (Part 2, Chapter 4)

Short Answer

1. Margaret’s parents were careful to dress her like other American children because someone xenophobic set off a bomb in their mailbox. (Part 2, Chapter 2)

2. The Crisis was a major economic depression, and after the Government started enforcing curfews and other rules, Americans began blaming China. (Part 2, Chapter 2)

3. Domi blamed Margaret because it seemed like she was betraying society considering that Ethan was wealthy, and many people were starving. (Part 2, Chapter 2)

4. Margaret is investigated because an anti-PACT protester named Marie includes a quote from one of her poems on a sign, and other anti-PACT protesters begin using it after she is killed. (Part 2, Chapter 3)

5. Bird calls Margaret a hypocrite for turning her back on children she’s been trying to help in order to stay with her own; his attitude convinces Margaret to go through with her plan. (Part 2, Chapter 4)

PART 3, CHAPTERS 1-4

Reading Check

1. To a cabin in Connecticut (Part 3, Chapter 1)

2. Small speakers (Part 3, Chapter 2)

3. Ethan (Part 3, Chapter 4)

Short Answer

1. When Margaret tells the stories, people stop to listen. (Part 3, Chapter 2)

2. The police had gone to the abandoned house that Domi owned. (Part 3, Chapter 4)

3. He will reunite with her by finding the people who know her poetry. (Part 3, Chapter 4)