The Whipping Boy

Infobox Book |
name = The Whipping Boy
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Sid Fleischman
illustrator = Peter Sis
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Children's novel
publisher = Greenwillow Books
release_date = April 1986)
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 96 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-688-06216-4
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Whipping Boy" is a Newbery Medal winning book by Sid Fleischman, published in 1987. Jemmy stands in for the punishments of Prince "Brat" and the story takes off along the lines of Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper" though the plot twist is not based on a physical resemblance. A movie adaptation was made in 1995 and was shown on television under the slightly-modified title Prince Brat and the Whipping Boy.

Plot summary

Prince Horace is known to others in his father's kingdom as Prince Brat. He delights in being nasty and is always plotting pranks (such as nailing dinner guests' wigs to chairs and filling the moat with frogs). When he is bad, he never is punished; he gets to pick a street boy to take his beatings for him.

The plot thickens when Prince Horace needs a new whipping boy. Jemmy, an orphan who catches rats in the sewer (because they are the best fighting rats) and loves to exclaim "Gaw!", is the new pick. This means that when Horace is naughty, Jemmy will be punished. Prince Brat tells him he should start yelling when he is whipped, or he will get a new whipping. Therefore, for the next year Jemmy does not make a sound. Jemmy learned to read and write while the Prince was supposed to be doing his lessons. Jemmy thinks about running away a lot, but is surprised when the prince, tired of the castle life, decides to run away instead. Prince Horace forces Jemmy to join him 'to carry his picnic basket'. While on the run, the lads are picked up by two notorious highwaymen, known as Hold-Your-Nose-Billy and Cutwater. (Hold-your-nose-Billy gets his name from the fact that he smells like "a ton of garlic." and also has a song created about him. ) Cutwater and Billy steal useless things (used napkins, used tissue, paper etc.) The murderers decide to ransom the prince. The original ransom was the prince's weight in gold. Then Jemmy, pretending to be the prince, says that the ransom was a disgrace, and proposes 'a prince's ransom'. The new ransom is a wagonload of gold and jewels. As the real prince cannot read or write, Jemmy writes up the ransom. That is when Hold-your-nose-Billy and Cutwater suspect that Jemmy is the prince. Jemmy tries to escape from them, but unfortunately, they always manage to find him. Then, at a fair in town, the Prince ruins all of Jemmy’s plans. The outlaws capture Jemmy and he is taken for Prince Horace.

The reason Jemmy is believed to be the prince is because he is brave, strong, smart and literate (Not even an outlaw believes that the Prince cannot read and write). However, one of Jemmy's friends was discussing how they were looking for more rats in the sewer, and soon, the outlaws realize that Jemmy is the whipping boy, and Prince Horace is the true Prince. A lady calls the Prince "Prince Brat", and he is mortified by the name. No one has ever called him such names before to his face, but everyone had referred to him as "Prince Brat" behind his back. The Prince improves his behavior and as the story ends, he asks his father the King to pardon Jemmy. His father gives Jemmy royal protection, provided that the prince does his lessons.