Review Ella Minnow Pea

Title Ella Minnow Pea
By Mark Dunn
For Book club
Source Library book club set

First sentence Dear Cousin Tassie, thank you for the lovely postcards.

Synopsis
On the fictional island of Nollop, named for Nevin Nollop, the man famous for the phrase: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, cousins Ella and Tassie write letters as an unfortunate even takes place. As letters of the famous phrase begin to fall from the statue of Nollop, the town council bans each letter from use as it falls.

General thoughts
Oh, where can I begin? I really expected to like this one and, yet, I don't feel bad saying I didn't. Maybe I just took this one way too seriously, alright I'll admit that's exactly what I did, but any time "government" takes too much control I take things very seriously! My biggest annoyance, after all was said and done, was the convenience of the story. The letters that fell, the younger children being allowed to speak the banned letters, (thrown in so someone could write down the new phrase they were all trying to come up with. Come on, you know that's why he threw that in,) the sudden decision to allow the use of proxy letters. All of these things were just used as a means to an end but it really bothered me. I'm not saying I could manage to write this book, and I'm sure Dunn had a hard time figuring it all out but he chose which letters fell for HIS convenience. All the clever ways he came up with to deliver the letters after the mail was being checked sounded as contrived as saying a pink elephant flew into town and began delivering them. I also had the impression that Dunn decided he liked Tassie more than Ella and almost forgot that he had to have Ella as the main character for a fun title to the book. And don't get me started on the dang council! If I'd been on the island I would have marched up to the statue, after the first banned letter, and knocked them all down and proclaimed my self a vessel for Nollop and inform them that they should all bow down and worship me. They probably would have fallen for it too! On the other hand I was irritated with what I felt was a mockery of deity and religion. And then the author manages to insult Nollop and accuse him of stumbling upon the phrase and probably stealing it. Yes, much like Dunn contrived a stupid little book and stole millions of people's money!  Alright, alright, I'm shutting up. (grumble, grumble) I'm sorry I'm being so mean but I did NOT like this one and I feel entitled to my opinion.

Characters
Sorry, but all the characters were just a means to an end as well. Resulting in absolutely no connection to any of them.

Would I recommend it? 
I know most people love it and enjoy it as a simple story but I delved deeper and I hated what I read! So no, I wouldn't.