ELLA MINNOW PEA by Mark Dunn

(MacADam/Cage Publishing; hardcover)

(Anchor Books; softcover)

Best for: Older elementary through adult ages

READ...

On the fictional island of Nollop (just off the coast of South Carolina), the locals are a literary bunch who revere their island’s founder, Nevin Nollop, whose claim to fame is his creation of the phrase “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” This pangram, a sentence that uses all the letters of the alphabet, is set in tiles under Nollop’s statue. And when one of the tiles falls off, the island’s ruling council decides this wasn’t just a matter of old glue. Instead, they determine that Nollop is communicating with his followers from beyond the grave, and his desire is that this specific letter be removed from usage.

To delete one letter from usage means no one will be able to speak, read, or write this letter. In fact, on the first offense the guilty party will be publicly denounced. Upon the second offense, the guilty will be either flogged or put into stocks. Those who dare to use the banned letter a third time are either immediately shipped off the island, or quickly put to death.

With this as the backdrop, Ella Minnow Pea is the story of the young woman of this name and her family. The book is a series of letters, notes, and proclamations between Ella, her parents, her cousin, aunt, neighbors, and several others. When the first letter is dropped from existence, these eloquent people creatively choose different verbiage by which to express their thoughts. They’re outraged that the libraries must be burned, but do little in protest. But when a second letter, then a third and fourth fall and are thus banned from usage…things begin to look dire for the inhabitants of Nollop.

Ella Minnow Pea is brilliantly clever in it’s writing. Author Mark Dunn obeys the rules of the island and when a letter is banned from usage, he no longer uses it in the book. So a daughter becomes a female-heir, day turns in to sun-to-sun, and so on. Creative names are invented for the days of the week and the months. At first it’s almost an adventure—if only people weren’t in danger of losing their lives! As more and more of her family and friends are deported, executed, and shamed into silence, Ella and a few rebels become determined to save their island.

Beyond the inventive fable, Ella Minnow Pea opens the door to many discussions related to censorship, political correctness, standing up for what’s right, and totalitarian forms of government. Many of the Nollop’s dwellers wait for others to protest, even to the point of complaining about those who do nothing—even though they do nothing themselves. And as the government gains more and more power, even taking over the land of those who disobey, fewer and fewer people are left to protest.

THINK...

• There is no comment about Christianity or other religions in Ella Minnow Pea, but there are Christians who tend to think like the island council—setting rules based on their own traditions or interpretations of the Bible. When have you seen attitudes like these? Should these attitudes be changed? Why or why not? And if so, how?

• There’s been a move in recent years to use “politically correct” language. How does banning certain words from usage help our society or hurt our society?

• On the island of Nollop, few take the risks involved in standing up for their beliefs. After all, the consequences are severe. When are you willing to stand up for what’s right? When are you too afraid to do so? Who are people from the Bible or from history who have taken the risk of standing up for what’s right? What was the result of their actions?

LIVE!

Read Ephesians 4:29, then listen to yourself speak this week. When are you careful with your language? Are your words building others up or tearing them down? Even though there’s little true censorship of language in our society (meaning there are rarely legal penalties for the words we speak), we still convey messages about ourselves and our God by our choice of words. What do your words say about you?

If you liked ELLA MINNOW PEA, you might also enjoy: 

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (EP Dutton--hardcover; Scott Foresman--softcover)

Gideon's Dawn

While Ella Minnow Pea uses a clever idea to open the door to discussions about our usage of words, Gideon’s Dawn takes a mythical look at the power of words. A Word of Desolation spoken by the High Lord Gideon creates a world of evil, and thousands of years later, a different Gideon must speak the words of freedom. This remarkable work of fantasy draws lines between good and evil, and the power words have in both of these realms.