"Ella Minnow Pea": An Engaging Novel Told Through Letters

Scott Ross: If you enjoy word play you may enjoy this book. It is silly, but that's easily forgiven. I was unable to second-guess the characters (therefore the author) as they created phrases from ever shorter collections of letters...I bet you won't be able to either.

United States on Oct 27, 2023

John Espirian: I saw this book mentioned on TikTok and thought it would be fun. Didn't realise it was going to be a really smart slam of politics and religion. It's some editorial feat to have been able to put together the later chapters. I'm tempted to listen to the audiobook to see how it was possible to narrate the ending. Brilliant stuff all round.

United Kingdom on Oct 16, 2023

Amazon Customer: Haven’t read it yet. Heard good things. Only just figured out the title is a play on letters. Hilarious

United States on Sep 29, 2023

Kathryn Davidson: Creative and witty. Like reading an overly enthusiastic story by someone who just discovered a thesaurus. But in the best way possible. Absolutely loved this from start to finish!

United States on Sep 12, 2023

darswords: I better include the blurb from GoodReads for this one.

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

~~~

Correspondence is the only way this story is told. Letters between friends and family tell the story.

So many creative writing ideas are presented in this book. As I mentioned, letter writing is one. Another emerges as bits of the alphabet are outlawed. Try writing without...

United States on Sep 07, 2023

LBrunner: Quite a challenging read, not being a native-speaker! But so fun, a story making you think, and entertaining, too. There are tons of little details to find, probably more, the more you look. A satisfying story with a great concept behind it!

Germany on Aug 15, 2023

Sara Melis: I bought it because of a comment on Pinterest and it didn't leave me disappointed. At. All.

Italy on Jun 30, 2023

willic43: When I read the first chapter I wasn't sure I would like this book. It felt based in an ancient time which is fine but I didn't have much confidence that whatever story I was about to get would entertain me.
However, the author takes a really interesting concept of becoming unable to use certain letters in the alphabet and turns it into a great read.
It's a fun story but sad at times having to witness utter madness by higher authorities but I think that's society and life.
You do feel like you want to go on journey with the characters and even get in on the challenge the author sets.

United Kingdom on Nov 09, 2022

Holly "Ragdoll Reads" Hodson: The Story…

Off the coast of America is an Island called Nollop. Named for the revered Nevin Nollop (deceased), creator of the pangram "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

Nollop is not an advanced nation - it's not even keeping up with the rest of the world. But what Nollop lacks in technological advancement, it's makes up for with the adoration of language. The Nollopian's adore words - especially Ella. They adore words, and they idolise the aforementioned Nevin Nollop. A monument to his linguistic prowess stands proud for all to see - tiles with individual letters spelling out the famous pangram.

One day, a tile falls from the monument - the letter Z. The governing body of Nollop - being so fanatically devoted - declare the falling of the tile to represent an instruction from Nollop himself! The message is interpreted to mean the Nollopians should never used the letter Z again. Not in speech, not in writing...and those who break this divine law are severely punished.

The book is written as a series of letters from various Nollopians. As more tiles fall from the aging monument, the Nollopians are forced to abandon...

United Kingdom on Apr 19, 2018

Kath Kirk: At a mere 208 pages, Ella Minnow Pea is a lexically delicious little book. It’s also a wonderful allegory (or perhaps a satire?) of fascism, censorship, the corruption of absolute power, theocracies, and the apathy (or fear) that allows evil to triumph over good.

"We are a nation of letter-writers, who, in the absence of reliable telephone service or the existence of electronic mail, have cultivated our hardship far beyond all expectation."

The novel takes the form of letters from the inhabitants of an independent little fictional island called Nollop. It takes its name from the founding father Nevin Nollop, who is credited with discovering the wonderfully succinct sentence, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” in which each letter of the alphabet appears. This sentence is Nollop (the island)’s claim to fame, and it is proudly displayed in the town square. However, one night the letter ‘Z’ crashes to the ground. The council takes this as a sign from Nollop himself that the letter Z is unnecessary anyway – well, we hardly use it, after all – and so they decide to ban its use. Anyone caught using the aforementioned forbidden letter will be...

United States on Sep 23, 2015