The Whipping Boy

The Whipping Boy

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade historical adventure
• Originally Published: 1986
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 570L; grades 3-8
• Structure/Length: 20 chapters; approx. 90 pages; approx. 2 hours on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Young Jemmy is Prince Horace’s whipping boy: Since it is against the law to touch royalty, Jemmy takes the prince’s punishments in his stead. However, the two boys must learn to work together when they switch places after being kidnapped.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Physical punishment of children; outdated terminology for Romani people

Sid Fleischman, Author

• Bio: 1920-2010; born in Brooklyn and raised in San Diego; writer of fiction for children, middle-grade readers, and adults, including over 40 children’s titles; self-studied magic and became a traveling vaudeville magician; served in WWII and saw parts of the world that inspired some of the settings in his books; learned screenwriting after the success of Cold War adventure film Blood Alley (1955); received the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1994 for his life’s body of work
• Other Works: By the Great Horn Spoon (1963); Humbug Mountain (1978); Jim Ugly (1992); Bandit’s Moon (1998)
• Awards: Newbery Medal winner (1987); ALA Notable Book; School Library Journal Best Book

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Wealth Versus Poverty
• Friendship Overcoming Differences
• Transformation Through Adversity

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the sociohistorical contexts of hereditary monarchies and social class that relate to the conflict within the novel.
• Reflect on themes and ideas of fairness, responsibility, and Transformation Through Adversity in discussion prompts.
• Stage a mock trial to examine Jemmy’s culpability or innocence for participating in the prince’s escapade.