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Intro
Ella Minnow Pea lives on the fictional island of Nollop, located of the coast of South Carolina. The island is named after a man named Nevin Nollop, who is credited with the pangram, “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” The citizens of Nollop pride themselves on their extensive vocabulary and their creative use of language.
The story is told through a series of letters to and from different citizens on the island, beginning in July and ending just a few months later in November. When the novel begins, Ella (who lives in the busy town of Nollopton) writes to her cousin Tassie (who lives in the more rural village of Nollopville) explaining that something odd has happened. There is a statue commemorating Nollop in the center of Nollopton, with each letter of the pangram inscribed on a tile at its base. One day, the tile bearing the letter “Z” falls from the statue. The island’s governing body, the High Island Council, determines that this is a sign from Nollop beyond the grave that citizens should no longer use the letter “Z” in speech or writing. They decree that the first offense will result in an oral reprimand, the second will incur a choice of flogging or headstock, and the third will result in banishment from the island. Ella decides to cautiously obey the decrees for the time being, but Tassie is outraged in Ella’s response, pointing out that already books are being banned from the library. Ella recognizes the problem with not being able to use the letter “Z”: they cannot accurately write about this incident in the history books without using the letter.
Nollopians quickly rack up first and second offenses in the days following the “Z” ban. People become fearful of others as neighbors turn one another in, “perpetuating old grudges and grievances.” One young man, Willy Creevy, is banished after flouting the rules and garnering three offenses. Soon, a second letter falls: “Q,” which is banned quickly thereafter. People begin to stage rebellions, including one family, the Rasmussens, who protest at an open Council meeting by wearing cartoon masks and quacking. The whole family, including two nine-year-old girls, is publicly flogged while the rest of the town watches and does nothing. After this, Ella and her family begin to host underground resistance meetings. Meanwhile, Tassie’s mother, Mittie, who is a math teacher, garners a first offense for saying the word “dozen” in class. One of her students, Timmy, tells his mother, Georgeanne Towgate, who reports Mittie for the violation.
As the weeks wear on, an American scholar named Nate Warren writes to Tassie and Mittie, asking to stay in their home and meet with the Council. He is interested in Nollop and he hopes to write an article about what is happening on the island so that the Council’s tyranny might come under public scrutiny. He also reports that chemists have analyzed the glue from the tiles and he explains that the tiles are falling simply because the glue has worn out—not because Nollop is a deity. He asks if they can try to set up a meeting with the Council to display these findings. Tassie and Mittie agree to help him.
When a third tile, “J,” falls, the Council explains that it is basing its actions on the will of Nollop and that any other interpretation will be considered punishable heresy. They write that Nollop was “omniscient” because of his ability to create his 35-letter pangram—a feat like that cannot be replicated or beaten, they declare.
After “J” is banned, “D” falls soon after. Ella laments that they will have a lot of difficulty expressing the past tense without “D” and the Nollopians will thus be deprived of their own historical record. The Council also sends out a directive, providing alternative names for the days of the week.
Nate arrives in Nollop, and he and Tassie quickly develop a romantic relationship. Mittie resigns from her teaching position, saying it is impossible to communicate without the word “and.” Meanwhile, Ella’s mother, Gwenette, gains two offenses for using the word “diminished” in a letter to Mittie, as the Council reveals that they are now checking letters for illegal words. Additionally, the United States stops trade with Nollop, which is difficult for Ella’s father, Amos, because he exports jugs of moonshine.
Nate and Tassie meet with the Council, reporting the chemists’ findings. Rederick Lyttle, one of the Council members, argues that Nollop is actually working “through the science” and he made the glue from the tiles fail. Nate argues that if they can come up with a shorter pangram than Nollop, the Council will admit that he was not worthy of idolizing and it will rescind the statutes. Lyttle agrees but he says that they only have six weeks to complete the challenge and must come up with a pangram of 32 letters. All Nollopians begin to work on this challenge, which they dub “Enterprise Thirty-Two,” though by this point many people have been banished from the island or they have moved due to the hostile environment. The Council also declares that anyone who has been banished or has left the island will lose their property.
The letters “F” and “B” both fall soon after, and Mittie gains a second offense—again reported by Georgeanne Towgate. The Law Enforcement Brigade (L.E.B.) also starts to do home searches, looking for illegal letters. A professor named Professor Mannheim comes up with a 44-letter pangram, the shortest they have so far. Additionally, Tassie, starts to send anonymous threats to the Council.
Georgeanne Towgate then writes to Mittie, asking for her help. Children under eight are exempt from the statutes, but the school is saying that her son Timmy turned eight prior to when she believes he will actually turn eight, and therefore Timmy has technically been breaking the statutes. Mittie attempts to help Georgeanne, searching for something that will prove Timmy is still seven, but to no avail. Timmy is banished while Georgeanne remains on Nollop.
Soon after, the government takes Tassie into L.E.B. custody, believing that she wrote the anonymous threats. Amos, Ella’s father, also gains a third offense, and in his farewell letter he asks if Ella and her mother can do a favor for him: “Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs?” The same day, the letter “C” falls, and soon after, “V” falls as well.
Nate rescues Tassie from the island’s prison, and both of them escape with Mittie to the U.S. Gwenette gains a third offense and so she is also banished, leaving Ella entirely alone on Nollop. Georgeanne comes to Ella’s door looking for Mittie, wondering if she has moved in with her sister, but Ella greets her and shares her company. Additionally, Ella meets another woman, Tanya, who is one of the other few remaining people on Nollop, as well as Professor Mannheim and his assistant Tom. Working on Enterprise Thirty-two together and they manage to find a 43-letter pangram.
With 11 days left in the challenge, “U” falls, the first vowel to be banned. The Council then provides a decree that citizens may use letters to substitute others, but only in writing. The letter “X” falls soon after, and while Mannheim and Tom are trying to work on Enterprise Thirty-two, the L.E.B. interrogates them and Mannheim uses an illegal letter during a police interview. He refuses to be exiled to the United States, however, and when he tries to run away he is shot and killed. His young daughter Paula, having no other relatives left on Nollop, is sent to Ella. Tom also goes into hiding following Mannheim’s death, leaving Enterprise Thirty-two entirely to Ella.
Georgeanne becomes more and more lonely with so few people left on the island, and she takes to painting her own body. She uses toxic paint to do so however, and she dies of lead poisoning. Tanya also leaves Nollop and takes Paula with her, feeling that Nollop is now a wasteland. Only 14 letters remain, with four days left to complete the Council’s challenge, and “G” has just fallen. Ella stops writing to her family in America, finding it too tiring to try to express herself with so few letters.
With one day left in the challenge, eight tiles fall, leaving only five remaining: L, M, N, O, and P. Ella writes a final letter of rebellion, declaring, “No mo Nollop pomp! No mo Nollop poo poo!” She then discovers the final letter from her father, which ended with the sentence, “Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.” Ella realizes that this sentence is, by chance, a 32-letter pangram. Ella sends this sentence to Lyttle and the statutes are immediately rescinded; all of the Council members except Lyttle resign. Tom is able to come out of hiding and he helps Ella destroy the statue of Nollop. In its place, Ella asks that they erect a sculpture of a large box filled with sixty moonshine jugs: “disorder to match the clutter and chaos of our marvelous language.”
