Truly bizarre. An odd book, a good idea which has been well-executed. Though the reading got a bit difficult near the end, having to go through everything phonetically.

In Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn transports readers to the imaginary island of Nollop, named for Nevin Nollop, inventor of the pangram (a sentence using all letters of the alphabet) "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." It is an idyllic place, free from technological innovations like television and computers, where Nollopians devote themselves to the liberal arts and especially to the cultivation of language. But when a tile containing the letter "Z" falls from the monument the islanders have erected to honor Nollop and his illustrious sentence, a chain of events is set in motion which will threaten the very foundations of the Nollopian state. The High Island Council calls an emergency session to discuss the fallen letter and in it they see a sign and portent, a message from the great Nollop himself to cease all use of the letter "Z" in spoken and written communication. The Council passes a law against uttering words containing the letter; punishment for violating their strictures can lead to banishment and even death. And as further letters begin to fall, Ella Minnow Pea and her family, along with the rest of community, are forced to live under linguistic siege. Books are destroyed. Newspapers shut down. Citizens are publicly flogged, placed in stocks, their property confiscated and their lives ruined, all for slips of the tongue. But with the help of Nate Warren, a researcher living in South Carolina, the islanders decide to fight back, vowing to create a pangram even shorter and therefore more dazzling than the one for which Nollop has been elevated to divine status. The only question is: can they do it before all is lost?

RELEASE NOTES:

On the OBCZ bookshelf

On the OBCZ bookshelf!

Caught this one on behalf of daughter #1. Had a quick look through and it looks quite good fun, might ask for it back! Am leaving it for her to 'catch'.

RELEASE NOTES:

One for you, beep-one

Thanks Mum, looks good!

A wonderful book! I thought that I had quite a wide vocabulary, but I read this with a dictionary alongside me, such inventive use of the language! A very original story that kept me interested enough to read it all in one sitting.

Collected from another bookcrosser

Wierd. When you have read this book there is a compulsion to try and make a sentence with all the letters of the alphabet using less than 35 letters. I could only manage 39; here it is: Six zebras quietly moan and jig with five picks. Can anyone else improve on this? Now passing this on to daughter number 2.

Beep-two here....

This book was a bit odd, but I did really like it (apart from the later parts that were written phonetically, that did my head in, I normally read quite fast!). I probably should have read this with a dictionary, but instead I just skipped the words I didn't know (laziness mainly, but also because I was enjoying the book so much I wanted to get to the end and find out what happened, and I don't think we have an English dictionary in the house anyway). I thought the ending was good, it made me smile.

A very original and well-written book, and I would recommend it to others.

received as part of a book exchange...will read soon and post more!

sent to member of paperbackswap