SUNDERLAND – Little boys are fascinated by whale poop, no surprise there, but little girls? They’re fascinated too, which is why Michaela Tremblay said, “A big part of this program is talking about whale poop.”

Tremblay and Cynde McInnis, owner and inflator of Nile the humpback whale, brought the 43-foot blow-up mammal to the Sunderland Library on the evening of July 20 to teach kids about whales and the oceans they live in. According to McInnis, this summer the massive black-and-white beast visited schools and libraries up and down the east coast and in Indiana, Michigan and Delaware.

McInnis led 197 groups of kids through Nile’s inner regions this summer. She enjoys watching the kids react to a whale that fills the library. When they get inside it? Super cool.

“They love it,” McInnis said. “They love going inside it. They have that moment: childhood awe. They forget they’re really cool and they go, ‘Ah.’ … They’re just super excited.”

Tremblay set up a learning station with information about whale feeding habits, routes they use to travel the world, and what happens along the way. Tremblay explained why whales feed life on the surface of the oceans. Whales bring nutrients from the deeper waters up to the sunlit strata. The water pressure in the depths prevents whales from expelling waste, so they return to the surface to “go to the bathroom,” bringing fresh nutrients to cytoplankton, the plant-like life forms that need sunlight.

After sitting in the whale with McInnis, learning about whale physiology and handling whale bones, children migrated to watch a video or visited with Tremblay. Librarian Kelly Daniels Baker enjoyed watching the library fill up with excited kids. She sees Nile as an inspiration for kids to learn more about the oceans.

“We are a coastal state,” Daniels Baker said. When Nile the humpback whale visits “they get to see firsthand what they can then go out on a whale watch and see. [But] not everybody can get to the shore and this is a way to educate the kids and the parents.”

One visitor, Adria Shamanski, patiently waited her group’s turn to do like Jonah and be inside a whale.

“I think it’s very cool to see a giant, life-size whale,” Adria said, “but it would be even cooler if I get to go inside it, see inside it.”

Shamanski’s mother, Amy Shamanski, appreciated the chance to learn about whales and the oceans. She commented on the wider community role the library plays in educating children, both within and beyond Sunderland. Shamanski also understood the deeper retention of information that children achieve through tactile learning.

“We’ve been coming up here forever, young adult and kid programs, they’re phenomenal here,” Shamanski said. She said of visiting with an inflatable whale, “That whole body experience is much more powerful than just talking about something, or reading about something. That’s what we’re really excited about.”

More children arrived in front of the circulation desk for their turn to sit inside Nile. The normally quiet room was full of wide eyes, children pointing and talking, and it all seemed a little much for Daniels Baker, more used to books than 43-foot beasts.

“It does transform [the library] as long as it’s in the building,” Daniels Baker said.