The Whipping Boy

by Sid Fleischman

The Whipping Boy

Follow the links below to find free resources and book unit samples.

 

Book Information

Publication Date: April 1986


Reading Level: Lexile Measure 570L, Scholastic Guided Reading Level R


Interest Level: Grades 3 - 8; Age Range: 8 - 12 years


Major Awards: 1987 Newbery Medal Winner


Number of Pages: 96 pages


Approximate Word Count: 29,280 words -- The average reader will spend 1 hours and 57 minutes reading The Whipping Boy at 250 words per minute.*


Book Themes: Responsibility, Adventure, Boredom


Genre: Historical Fiction


Setting: latter half of the eighteenth century; in the countryside around a royal castle


Important Quote: What was he looking for, a prince in fine velvets and a crown cocked on his head? Was it clothes that made a prince, Jemmy wondered, just as rags made a street boy?


First Line: On a night when the moon gazed down like an evil eye, the young prince appeared in Jemmy's chamber.


Point of View: Mostly Third Person


*Estimate from Reading Length

Links to Resources and Teaching Ideas

The Whipping Boy Anchor Charts

The day before beginning The Whipping Boy, I displayed the following anchor charts in the classroom. This unit covers prefixes, suffixes, and root words. The two prefix charts were used for the first lesson. I removed the star-shaped sticky notes before class began; students placed them to the chart under the prefix that made real words. These two charts will change with each lesson, and a different set of prefixes, suffixes, or root words will be displayed.

The character charts will stay up for the duration of the novel. As students read, we will add character traits to these charts. Once we have read approximately half the book, the characters' main problems will be added. At the end of the novel, the solution to this problem will also be added.