Friday, May 27, 2011

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters

Ha!  this novel is a delightful play on words and also an excellent story.  It is centered on the Island of Nollop, which is named after Nelvin Nollop, who penned the phrase "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."  Nollop has been raised to a god-like status complete with a centotaph in his honor with the infamous phrase displayed in tiles.  As the tiles fall off, it is seen as a sign from the deceased Nollop that they are no longer to use those letters in written or spoken language.  A totalitarian state insues until there are finally only 5 letters left and most of the island population has been banished or has fled.  As the letters fall, the book is written without use of those letters as well.  Ella Minnow Pea saves the day and the island and the alphabet in an intriguing and delightful book. 
I learned quite a few new words from this book and enjoyed the many new words and inventive spellings as the alphabet decreased.

1 comment:

  1. Hehe this books sounds intriguing ! I must read it !

    Paul :)

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