“The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth.”–Mark Dunn, Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living on the fictional island of Nollop, named after Nevin Nollop. Nollop is the author of the famous pangram known to typing students across the English speaking world, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” The island boasts a statue of Nollop complete with his famous sentence. As it ages, however, individual letters begin to fall off. The town council decides this is surely a sign and decrees that when a letter falls, it can no longer be used in writing and words that use the letter cannot be spoken. The punishments for non-compliance are draconian and as more letters fall, Ella and her community are desperate to reclaim their town and their language. Their one hope might be to create a new pangram, one even shorter than Nollop’s, but with letters and time running out, they are going to need some help.
This novel is told through a series of letters and when the letters disappear from the statue, they also disappear in book. It is a clever and humorous approach to the serious subjects of authoritarianism, justification, and reading signs where none were intended. It is a shining homage to language and wordplay. If you love words, you’ll enjoy this book.
Content Advisory: Authoritarianism