Publisher's Synopsis
At the turn of the century, sideshows traveled by train across the country, displaying oddities of one sort or another. Captain Pinkney stopped in Johnstown, Illinois, with his own attraction: a dead humpback whale. Ben and his friend Tommy are on their way to see the whale when Tommy shows Ben his penknife, which he intends to use to get a souvenir. Ben doesn't want to go along with Tommy's plan to cut off a piece of the whale. Ben cares about the whale, even if it is dead, and he learns about standing up for what he believes in.
