The Gospel of the Eels: A Father, a Son and the World's Most Enigmatic Fish
- Patrik Svensson
"The river represented his origins, what was familiar and
what he always returned to. But the eel that moved down there in
the hidden, and occasionally appeared to us, represented something
else. It was rather a reminder of how little you can know after
all, about an eel or a human, about where you come from and where
you are going."
How much can you know about an eel? Or about a human being? This
year's read-aloud book is about the enigmatic eel, but also about
the author's relationship to his father and how the eel brought
them together. Where the eel is born, reproduces and dies has long
been a scientific mystery. The European eel is born in the
Saragasso Sea, drifts with the Gulf Stream towards Europe and then
lives in our waters until the day they swim back to their origin to
reproduce and then die. Patrik Svensson tells the story of the
endangered eel by searching for his own origins and mixing
fictional grips with popular science. We get to partake of the
author's childhood memories by a wild willow tree along a quiet
flowing river. There, in the Scanian nature, father and son unite
in a silent sense of community.
This year's read-aloud texts:
Chapter 2: By the River
p.15-22
Chapter 4: Looking an Eel in the Eye p.39-44
A book excerpt for reading aloud will be made available from
October.