Orientation Book

On behalf of the Orientation Book Committee, we are delighted to announce that we’ve chosen Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts for this coming academic year.  

In the novel, Bird Gardner lives with his father (a librarian at a university – presumably Harvard) during the era of PACT, which stands for Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act. The act aims to promote and protect “American values” and punishes anything or anyone who may stand in its way. After increasing threats on her family, Bird’s mother, a Chinese American poet whose book (Our Missing Hearts) became intertwined with a viral protest against PACT mysteriously leaves, leaving no trace of where she went behind. However, three years later, Bird receives a letter. From his mom… 

To download your digital copy of the novel, please see your Pomona email. You can only download with the link provided in your Three Things email sent on June 7.  

The responses to Celeste Ng’s beautiful work of fiction we received from our committee members and additional readers include these comments:

"I think this novel is my easy number one choice. …The novel is readable, and it touches on myriad issues that can be explored by students and faculty during a discussion. Politics, poetry, linguistics, race, xenophobia. Also, I do appreciate having a book while it’s still in its height of popularity.”

"Following the story of a young boy in search of his mother, Our Missing Hearts encapsulates so much more. It is a story about love and loss. But also one about finding your voice and learning how to use it. It is a story of risk-taking and how to find the truth – the real truth. Ng writes with poetic clarity, making it a fun and quick read, though (at least for me) its prose still resonated with me days after I had finished the novel. I think Our Missing Hearts would be an excellent choice for an orientation book because it is both contemporary (and while almost a sort of dystopian fiction it still mirrors our current political backdrop – or what it could be) and provides themes that I think go hand and hand with the transition to college."

"This book—I have no words!...An incredibly gripping novel that kept me wanting more (I read this in two sittings)! The writing is impeccable and the story is so important, especially as we've left the lockdown scares of the early pandemic. This book shows readers the horrors of America, its treatment of POC—specifically Asian People—and the threats racism and cancel culture pose to our society. I believe it's important to remember that our nation's cruelties aren't issues of the far past, but rather they follow us into contemporary times...This is certainly an appropriate read for an Orientation book!...Long story short: I loved this book, and I hope that incoming Pomona freshmen get to love it, too."

2022-2023 Orientation Book Committee

Frederike von Schwerin-High, professor of German and Russian, committee chair 

David Divita, professor of Romance languages and literatures

Anne Dwyer, associate dean of the college 

Josh Eisenberg, associate dean of students/dean of campus life 

Gizem Karaali, professor of mathematics and statistics 

Kevin Wynter, assistant professor of media studies 

Amy Yao '26   

Student reviewers of this and other books on the short list: 

Janci Zelaya '26,  

Janice Peng '26,  

Jazelle Saligumba '26, 

Sydney Cottrell '26,

Tara Mukund '26, 

Zarmina Sofizada '26

Download instructions:

  • Click on the link sent to your Pomona email to redeem your copy of Our Missing Hearts 

    • Code link will open Google Play on their web browser, where a pop-up will automatically appear 

    • Click “Add to Library” to redeem book 

    • Once added, click “Read Now” or access at a later time through the account used to redeem 

  • Once redeemed, user must be logged into Google Play with the same email (does not have to be Gmail) that they used to redeem the book (check icon on top right to toggle between accounts if needed) 

  • Book can be accessed across any devices with web access – no specific app or device required (optional Google Play app will allow end user to download and read offline) 

  • Users in Google’s 75 supported GPB countries will be able to redeem the book.  

  • If your home country does not support Google Play, you can purchase a copy of the book and Pomona College will reimburse you the cost.