This is a rhymed verse novel about a humpback whale lost in the Sacramento River delta, who meets land animals that relate tales of terror from a single species. A raccoon reveals how it came to wear a furtive mask. A heron speaks of poisoned waterways. A frog describes a skin-buckling scene in a land of giants. A dog named Ralf uses black humor to recount fur-raising experiments done on animals. Then a beaver builds a dam that blocks Humphrey's...