If you love words, and if you enjoy a good satire, you will like this book. I read it one sitting while waiting for the next letter to drop.

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This is one of the most original books I've ever read. I still use the central challenge in this book (writing as short a sentence as possible using all of the letters of the alphabet) to help clear my mind on those insomnia nights....I would post my copy of the book, but I REALLY don't want to get rid of it.

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Fantastic book! Difficult to read as it goes on, it really makes you work (and think), but extremely gratifying.

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an amusing fantasy about a fictional island where the inhabitants revere the fictional author of the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," containing all the letters in the alphabet. When the letters start falling off his statue, the people on the island are not allowed to use words containing those letters either in writing or in speech. This is not much of a problem when the "Z" falls off, but becomes very inconvenient when letters like "s" and "a" begin to fall. This book would appeal to adult readers who enjoy playful, intelligent fantasy but would also appeal to bookish young adolescent readers.

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Ella Minnow Pea is a cleverly written book about a place where alphabet letters are removed from use...the author manages to write and convey ideas, despite a growing loss of letters. It's fun to read and fun to decipher at the end!

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This is a whimsical, fun, silly and unique book. There were things I found hilarious but also some frightening, thought provoking elements. I mostly read this a few chapters at a time in between other books. It doesn't really need to be read all at once. It's a keeper for me because it is unique and funny. Without spoilers I will say I will always find Satto-gatto to be hilarious.

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Parable, satire, or just plain fun, this delightful little novelette traces the misfortunes which befall the inhabitants of a mythical island off the coast of South Carolina when letters begin disappearing from the alphabet.

The island, you see, was the home of the equally mythical Nevin Nollop, he who composed that catchy little phrase âthe quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.â It's a pangram, you see â a sentence including all 26 letters of the alphabet, and useful to typesetters, beginning typists, code writers, and anyone else who has need to corral individual symbols into coherent words. Their commemorative statue to Nollop, decorated with tiles spelling out his claim to immortality, is beginning to age somewhat, and one day â horrors! â one of the tiles slips from its mortar and crashes to the ground. Whereupon the Ruling Council decides this to be a message from beyond the grave â that the saintly Nollop is decreeing that henceforth no one should use the fallen letter (this one happens to be âZâ) in either spoken or written form.

As additional tiles begin to fall, additional letters are banned, and author Dunn dutifully soldiers on without them in the narrative, which is composed entirely of letters and written notes between characters. One could become very analytical about this, and discuss the conflict between the human drive to communicate and the equally compelling drive to remain part of one's culture, or draw parallels between repressive dictatorships and freedom of speech. Or one could simply sit back and enjoy the fun as the remaining letters are gang-pressed into service to get the point across.

A few sub-plots emerge â a couple of romances, attempts to either unseat the Ruling Council or to convince them to rescind their draconian rulings, and a final desperate project to create a new pangram, thus proving Nollop was not divinely inspired. But the real fun is just watching the language emerge as the characters unwillingly play a kind of linguistic Jenga â how many letters can they extract before the whole language collapses?

Great fun for word lovers. And be sure to read the datelines on the notes and letters, which become progressively sillier as writers struggle gamely on as more bits of the alphabet elude them.

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I love reading, I love words and I love playing with them. This little novel does just all of that and more. With its outlandish plot and the actions of the Council it takes the reader on a light and laughable ride. Poking fun at a very famous sentence that those who ever took typing classes will recognize the author lets his imagination run riot. I loved it. Try it. Good short read for a light cheery afternoon.

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