Ella Minnow Pea August 24, 2012
Posted by nrhatch in Books & Movies, Word Play, Writing & Writers.comments closed
The other day, Jodi Miner, My Literary Quest, mentioned an intriguing book ~ Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn ~ in conjunction with her post, The #1 Essential Writing Skill, written to extol the value and virtue of typing skills to writers.
Agreeing completely with the sentiments expressed in the post, I responded with two pangrams:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
That prompted Jodi to mention Ella Minnow Pea, a novel set on the fictitious island of Nollop, off the coast of South Carolina, and home to Nevin Nollop, the supposed creator of the well-known pangram, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
The tale chronicles the effects on local literature and social structure as various letters are banned from daily use by government dictum.
Have any of you read Ella Minnow Pea (phonetically: L~M~N~O~P)?
What did you think?
Postscript: I finished reading Ella Minnow Pea last night and recommend it. Told entirely through letters from one citizen to another, using an increasingly limited alphabet, it says so much about our need to communicate freely . . . without governmental intrusion.
Related Post: Daily Prompt ~ Twenty Five
Spirit Lights The Way 