The Whipping Boy

Every other week I pile the kids in the car and we drive up to Cypress so the girls can attend book club. This week the family in charge discussed The Whipping Boy, by Sid Fleischman. The book is based on Jemmy, the official whipping boy of the royal palace. Before coming to the palace he was a rat catcher in the sewers of the city. Now every time the prince does something wrong Jemmy gets whipped. He dreams of running away, but is surprised when the prince announces one night that both of them are running away. Before they know it, the outlaw Hold-Your-Nose Billy has kidnapped them. Can Jemmy keep them both alive or will the oblivious Prince Brat spoil his every plan? Along the way they meet Petunia and her dancing bear and The Hot Potato Man.
My kids liked the book although they were outraged to learn that whipping boys actually have existed in history. Eliora's picked up that although Jemmy gets whipped every day he also learns to read and write which helps him later and is something no one outside of the castle seems to be able to do.
For book club the kids sat in a circle and passed around a 'hot' potato while singing a ballad they had made up about Hold-Your-Nose Billy. The one with the potato at the end of the song got to choose a toy rat from the bowl and pull the question off his back. Once all the questions were answered each child got to pick out a rat or spider to take home. They then played a game where two kids went into the other room as Billy and Cutwater (the villains). Two other kids were picked as the Prince and Jemmy who hid under the straw (blankets). The villains returned and had to guess who was missing from the group. If they could name them then the kids were 'caught'. If not, then our heroes got away.