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Summary
Summary
"Ella Minnow Pea is an epistolary novel set on the fictional island of Nollop, situated off the coast of South Carolina and home to the inventor of the pangram The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog. The islanders have erected a monument to honor their late hero, but one day a tile with the letter "Z" falls from the statue. The leaders interpret the fallen tile as a message from beyond the grave and the letter is banned from use. On an island where the residents pride themselves on their love of language, this is seen as a tragedy. They are still reeling from the shock, when another tile falls and then another." "Mark Dunn takes us on a journey against time through the eyes of Ella Minnow Pea and her family as they race to find another phrase containing all the letters of the alphabet to save them from being unable to communicate."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Reviews (1)
Kirkus Review
A mostly lighthearted tweaking of literary sensibilities, playwright Dunn's first novel gets good mileage from a simple notion: People can carry hero worship way too far. The hero in question is Nevin Nollop, "inventor" of the well-known pangram "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." The tiny island of Nollop, off the South Carolina coast, is an independent nation devoted to the preservation of his memory and achievement-devoted, that is, until the letters start falling from the sentence on the man's monument, one by one. A series of notes and letters from citizens of this highly literate nation, particularly Ella and Tassie, two young cousins who are members of the Minnow Pea family, records the actions of the island's ruling council, which decides that the fallen letters (and the words that contain them) are meant to be removed from Nollop's vocabulary. "Z" goes first, followed by "Q" and a quick succession of others; each of the fallen is treated as were its predecessors, with a "three strikes and you're out" penalty imposed on any Nollopians who fail to make the required adjustments. This creates severe hardship for the islanders, who begin to leave voluntarily or by penalty; life comes to a virtual standstill for those who remain. A young journalist from the mainland arrives in secret to appeal to the reason of the sole council member who still seems to have any, and before he's unmasked and deported he both plants a seed of hope and steals Tassie's heart. But it's on the shoulders of Ella, brave Ella, that the burden of rescuing the island from its madness ultimately falls. Cleverness is the hook with this little fable-those delighting in wordplay will be duly rewarded by seeing language stretched to its limits.