Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

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Third-Grade Book Club: The Whipping Boy

9 Comments

From the dust jacket:  Prince Horace is so naughty that everyone calls him Prince Brat. But the prince is not allowed to be spanked. So an orphan boy named Jemmy is taken from the streets to be the prince’s whipping boy.

When Prince Brat decides to run away, he takes Jemmy with him. The boys begin a wild adventure that lands them in the clutches of two thieving cutthroats! Can Jemmy use his street smarts to outwit his kidnappers and free himself and the prince?

Sid Fleishchman’s THE WHIPPING BOY won the Newbery Medal in 1987. I hadn’t picked it up since my student teaching days in the mid-nineties. It was so fun to revisit this chapter book with a roomful of eight and nine-year-olds. The dialogue is snappy, and the bumbling bad guys (Cutwater and Hold-Your-Nose Billy) are a great match for the boys.

Here’s one of the discussion questions I presented to the group:  How does Prince Horace change during the course of the story?

My favorite response: He goes from being all fancy and royal to camping out in the woods.

This would make a wonderful read aloud for boys and girls alike.  What read alouds have been a hit in your family?

The post is a part of Steady Mom’s Thirty-Minute Challenge.

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Filed Under: books and reading, teaching

Comments

  1. TerryLynnJohnson says

    November 10, 2009 at 1:34 pm

    That sounds like such a good book! Our family’s favorite read aloud was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Especially when the Oompa-loompa’s started singing!

    Reply
  2. Cammie says

    November 10, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    I remember that book from elementary school … thanks for the trip down memory lane!

    Reply
  3. Tamika: says

    November 10, 2009 at 4:05 pm

    I loved that book! It is a great classic.

    Reply
  4. Andrea Cremer says

    November 10, 2009 at 9:27 pm

    Oh, oh, oh! I love that book! My favorite read alouds were The Hobbit and Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series.

    Reply
  5. Natalie says

    November 11, 2009 at 12:58 am

    I loved THE WHIPPING BOY! It’s been forever since I’ve read it.

    I just bought the entire Roald Dahl collection to read aloud with my girls. My brother read me THE BFG when I was in kindergarten. It was a little scary, but I loved it, and his reading it to me is a treasured memory.

    My husband and I read the Harry Potter series aloud–so fun!

    Reply
  6. PJ Hoover says

    November 11, 2009 at 3:39 am

    I’ve never read it but have been tempted numerous times…including today 🙂

    Reply
  7. Liesl says

    November 11, 2009 at 4:10 am

    I read this as a child, but it’s been a long time. I’ll have to revisit!

    My six-year-old loves Matilda and James and the Giant Peach. The Wizard of Oz was also fun.

    Reply
  8. Sharon Mayhew says

    November 11, 2009 at 5:12 am

    The Whipping Boy is a great book. I actually purchased a whole class set (with my own money), when I taught elementary school.

    Reply
  9. Stephanie Thornton says

    November 11, 2009 at 6:32 am

    My daughter just turned three, but I love picking out a pile of books and reading to her every day. Some of her favorites are:

    Skippyjon Jones & Mummy Trouble
    Green Eggs & Ham
    Mermaid Dance
    On the Night You Were Born

    I can’t wait until she’s old enough for Charlotte’s Web, The Boxcar Children, and Roald Dahl. I’ve never read The Whipping Boy so I’ll have to check that one out.

    Reply

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