Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

What does it mean to engage in self-censorship? In what situations is it necessary for you to be careful of what you say? What are the consequences for failing to self-censor? Are there downsides to restricting yourself from expression?

Teaching Suggestion: Censorship can be a tricky subject for people to discuss, especially within the contexts of book banning and changes to education. Consider explaining that in the novel, the inhabitants of Nollop are asked to sensor both their thoughts—as is evident in government attempts to identify civil unrest—and the actual language they use to express those thoughts.

• “Code-Switching” explains the way that people switch from one linguistic code to another in order to fit different cultural, professional, and social contexts.
• “Why a Horror Film Starring Winnie the Pooh Has Run Into Trouble in Hong Kong” describes a unique case of government censorship that has some parallels with the censorship that occurs within the book.

Short Activity

Ella Minnow Pea features characters whose language is significantly restricted by their government.