"It is easy to see how people might disagree
about the terrifying, isolated Komodo dragon,
it's terrifying! It's isolated!
rar!
It is less easy to see how people might
disagree about the eel.
The eel is not rare. The eel is not
terrifying. The eel is not isolated.
The eel is all around us.
glub!"
Sibert medalist Nicholas Day begins by talking about all the books we read that give us facts that relate to what is familiar to many. He also presents some of what we know about eels; but adds 'the more we study it, the less we know about it.' He then suggests that it would be helpful if the reader could suddenly become an eel and pass along all that is learned while being one. In that way, this picture book would tell us all we need to know about eels.
Mr. Day moves on to report that the many who have studied the eel in the past have made statements that they felt were true from their observations. They presented their evidence and it was accepted until someone disproved it with another theory; on it went from one conclusion to the next.
"All this disagreeing went on for centuries, because eels are both
fascinating and bewildering, and after a while, everyone
managed to agree on this:
Eels are really easy to disagree about."
It should be easier. People could stand at the mouth of some European and American rivers and watch as a billion eels swam up them. Even being able to touch and hold them did little to help with the learning. Where did they come from? Where were the babies? How did they make those babies if there were any? There were no easy answers.
After many years and much study, Danish biologist Johannes Schmidt observed that all eels were born in the Sargasso Sea, migrated to the rivers of Europe and North America, and returned at the end of their lives to spawn new eels though he never saw a full-grown eel there. We are sure of those things, and that their migration journey is unimaginable. How do they know where they are going? As we come to the end of this remarkable book, what have we really learned about them?
For all we do know about today's world, there is so much left to explore and reveal.
Chatty and accessible for his target audience, Nicholas Day has done his research and presents it with questions in mind and few answers despite all the scientific study. It has humor and lively appeal. Cory Tabor's mixed-media digital artwork places readers in the middle of an eel's world with his agile, undulating forms and historical and contemporary settings. Illustrations are filled with motion and wonder, while adding context for the learning. The endpapers are brilliant and the book's case wrap offers a giggle. A closing note from the author further enlightens the text, while also focusing on the steep decline in eel populations. Sources are included.
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