The 2026 One Book, One Philadelphia selection might strike people as an eerily prescient dystopian novel about banned literature, silenced speech, and forced family separation, but it is also a story about a 12-year-old boy of Chinese descent\u2019s search for his poet mother whose work has been banned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Our Missing Hearts\u2019 is really a love letter to reading, to libraries, to stories and also to America,\u201d bestselling author Celeste Ng told Billy Penn. \u201cI think it touches on questions of what do libraries do to build community, what do our stories do to help us understand our history and who we are and how do we move forward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cOur Missing Hearts\u201d author Celeste Ng signs a One Book One Philly poster with Keeya Branson-Davis of PECO, Monique Moore Pryor of the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation, and Kelly Richards of the Free Library of Philadelphia. (Heather Chin\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n
Ng\u2019s novel was announced today as this year\u2019s One Book, One Philly featured work by the Free Library of Philadelphia and Free Library Foundation, which are kicking off a four-month book-club-style campaign to encourage as many people as possible to read together and attend free events for conversation, workshops, readings, art-making, film screenings and more.<\/p>\n
Younger readers are also included \u2013 in addition to \u201cOur Missing Hearts,\u201d featured One Philly companion stories for younger readers include \u201cSomewhere Between Bitter and Sweet\u201d by Latina novelist Laekan Zea Kemp for teen readers and \u201cHow to Grow a Family Tree\u201d by children\u2019s book author and former teacher Bea BIrdsong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Library leaders and city officials describe the message of this novel as being a perfect fit for the larger One Book, One Philly mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEach year, [this program] brings tens of thousands of readers together around a single, powerful story,\u201d said Foundation President Monique Moore Pryor. \u201cWith \u2018Our Missing Hearts,\u2019 Celeste Ng invites us to think deeply about ideas, art and the world we\u2019re living in. This book gives our city a meaningful opportunity to read, reflect and connect.\u201d<\/p>\n
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2026 One Book One Philly author honoree Celeste Ng autographs copies of \u201cOur Missing Hearts\u201d for Drexel Writer\u2019s Room founder Carol Richardson McCullough and other attendees. (Heather Chin\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n
For her part, Ng, a Pittsburgh native who also grew up in Ohio, told Billy Penn that when she wrote this book years ago (it published in 2022), she had \u201choped that our world would get farther away from the world of the book and instead, I think the opposite has happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s been really scary. I\u2019m not a prophet, I just look at history and I can see the patterns that happen,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope that people read this book, read other books, learn about history and try to find ways forward where we learn from the past.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Being part of Philadelphia\u2019s largest book club \u201cis really meaningful to me,\u201d she added, noting that it brings up questions, \u201cparticularly in this time \u2013 the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence \u2013 what does it mean to be American? What kind of country have we been and what kind of country do we want to be?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that people read this book and come away feeling like they are part of a community. To know that whatever it is they are struggling with, that they are not alone, that there are other people and we can all help each other and that we are stronger and the way forward is together,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That message resonates with Carol Richardson McCullough, a founding member of Drexel\u2019s Writers Room, who came to meet Ng and told her that she planned to introduce the book to her students, comprised of college students and members of the surrounding community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe book is described as a sort of dystopian novel, and as I\u2019m reading it, there\u2019s certain things and events happening in it that almost reflect things that I remember seeing more recently today,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it\u2019ll offer lots of time for reflection on what\u2019s happening in our society today as things are changing. . . It touches my heart. Librarians are leading the resistance, you know? They\u2019re saving the world. And that\u2019s a reflection of what I see in the library system in Philadelphia and in libraries all across the country and probably across the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
How to read the books\u00a0<\/p>\n
Visit any Free Library branch or download the book using your library card via the Libby app. Or attend one of the related events, which include books available for purchase and signing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Related One Book, One Philly events:\u00a0<\/p>\n