SUN JOURNAL • January 12, 2026
On New Year’s Eve at the Topsham Public Library, dozens of children gathered there got a little more than the usual fireworks and celebrations. They went for a walk — inside a whale. A 43-foot life-sized, inflatable humpback whale named Chunk, to be specific, with some of its features, like its baleen (instead of teeth), tongue, jaw bones, brain, blowhole, heart, lungs, three-chamber stomach, rib cage, spine and intestines included. Chunk belongs to Jessica Woodend, of Topsham, who visits schools, libraries and other public spaces around the state with Chunk in tow. Woodend calls her small business Within the Whale, and in 2025, she and Chunk visited 84 locations.