Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
Mark Dunn
Language: English
Pages: 208
ISBN: 0385722435
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island’s Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl’s fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.
*pangram: a sentence or phrase that includes all the letters of the alphabet
come from those who have involuntarily—or in an increasing number of cases, voluntarily—left the island.) As an added precaution I will assume, with your permission, the role of “old friend of the family.” Mr. Creevy reports that you and your daughter have remained in Council favor, and so I’m hopeful that such a visit won’t raise governmental objections. I know that I am asking much from you; I am, after all, a total stranger to the two of you. (And yet from Mr. Creevy’s descriptions of you
girls to employ their services. The only potential unpleasantness I can foresee in making the switch will be an occasional stench upon the envelope, owing to the fact that the Tisbee-Cohane Cross-Isle Courier Service is run by employees of the Tisbee-Cohane Septic Evacuators. Still, though, I think it worth it. We now live in an official police state, be sure of it. I chose cephalo-stock, you will be happy to hear. (Following much pressure by family members.) It was not so traumatic as one
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress. eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-91177-8 Anchor ISBN: 0-385-72243-5 Book design by Mia Risberg www.anchorbooks.com v3.1 For Mary Contents Cover About the Author Title Page Copyright
fear of where such discussion may lead. She said that she took the coward’s way out and would not permit discussion in her classroom either. It is gone, she tells the children. They must think no more of it. We must all learn to accept its departure. “And yet, deep inside,” she tells me, “I am angry and rebellious.” “In my head,” she tells me, “I am reciting what I recall of my niece’s last letter, allowing the illegal words to baste and crisp. I cook the words, serve them up, devour them
honor her wishes on the matter, for I can no longer bear my concerns for her alone. Please share the following with your mother, but do share it in careful confidence. Perhaps Aunt Gwenette may advise me as to how I might be of sufficient succor to her. You see, Mother has spoken the letter. She has spoken the letter in the presence of her class—there, before her young pupils—and it did not go without report. One student, I am sorry to relate, took it upon himself to inform his parents, and