Recommended by Genie Shields in response to my 2011 essay referring to pangrams and lipograms. This is the story of a fictional island, Nollop, 21 miles of the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, founded as an autonomous nation dedicated to the liberal arts and named for its most famous citizen, Nevin Nollop, the author of the pangram, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” accomplished in 35 letters. When the tile bearing the letter “Z” falls from the pedestal where the statue of Nollop rises over the city, the High Island Council determines that is it a message from Nollop to cease to use that letter. Within days the library is emptied of books containing the letter Z and individuals are punished for saying a word with a Z in it.  Matters worsen as Q followed by letter after letter fall and are banned.  Martial law (read Communism, fascism, fundamentalist religion…) ensues as neighbors rat on neighbors, the newspaper closes, censors review the mail, and many citizens flee for the mainland. Ella saves the nation by creating a pangram with only 32 letters: “Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs” at a time when the only remaining letters were LMNOP. A  banefully funny and very disturbing little book that reminds as how slippery the slope of acquiescence can be!