Book Review: Ella Minnow Pea

[Prof. Amy Lupin]

Title: Ella Minnow Pea
Author: Mark Dunn
Genres: Young Adult, Humor, Dystopia

The novel centers around the island of Nollop, which was named after the fictional inventor of the pangram 'the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'. There is a tribute to the inventor and the pangram itself, however as letters begin to fall off this tribute, the island’s Council see it as a sign that they need to eliminate those letters from their speech and their writing. This story is told through letters sent between various Nollopians, which detail the events that follow.

I was looking for interesting dystopias, and saw Ella Minnow Pea mentioned. As someone who loves language and words, I was immediately intrigued by the premise. I found the novel to be extremely entertaining, especially when the citizens of Nollop had to work around the language restrictions in the letters they sent each other. The characters were rather interesting, although I felt that not enough information was shared about one or two of the characters, and rather than shrouding them in mystery, this detracted from the story. My main disappointment with the novel was that I found the ending to be somewhat anti-climatic. I’d still recommend the novel though.

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

I read this book a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it! I was going to post a review myself until I saw this one already there. Here are my thoughts:

-the book’s pages hide a surprisingly large amount of complexity and themes, right from the vocabulary at the very beginning (I had to look up what a “cenotaph” was, for example)
-the themes of rebellion and censorship played very interesting roles as well: “what is the best way to deal with government whose policies you disagree with?”
-One doesn’t need to try very hard to avoid the letters “Z”, “Q”, or “J” (in fact, none of these letters appeared so far in this review before now) as long as they don’t occur in your own name. But when “D” (which isn’t even *that* common a letter) goes... you can really feel the loss.
-The new names for the days of the week once “D” were an interesting way to cling to already-asserted beliefs... but their best plans were themselves shattered when “B” (used as a substitute for two of the days) went not long after!
-It is *REALLY* hard to admit that a decision or belief you committed to is wrong, even when science proves otherwise!
-On a personal note, I was pleasantly surprised to see my initial letter, “W”, stay legal until almost the very end. Usually in exercises like this, “W” disappears pretty fast. I get the feeling that people whose names begin with “Z” would think differently though... everyone wants to keep the use of their own name (and not a forced nickname) for as long as they can!

I agree with Amy about the ending though... it leaves more questions (finally using a “Q”) open than it answers!