D (A Tale of Two Worlds)

D (A Tale of Two Worlds) by Michel Faber

Dhikilo, a young girl originally from Somaliland (not Somalia, as she continually reminds everybody), lives now in England with her adoptive parents. One morning she wakes up to find the letter D missing - from signs, from people's speech, from everywhere. Everyone is calling her Hikilo now, dogs are ogs, and dad is simply a. She seems to be the only one who doesn't know what's going on. 

After Dhikilo attends the funeral of a favourite teacher she discovers that he's actually still alive, and he knows what happend to the Ds. He sends her and his dog (who is really a sphinx in dog disguise) to another world to rescue the Ds and bring them back home. In that world, called Gampalonia, she meets an assortment of people/creatures  and gets into and out of several tricky predicaments as she attempts to fulfill her mission. 

It's a quirky, interesting read that I think might be more appealing to children than adults, maybe the same age range as would enjoy the Narnia books. I did enjoy reading it though.