Also a book by Sid Fleischman. The target audience for the book is fourth to sixth graders. The story is about a whipping boy who has enough of taking the heat for the prince and reacts to his situation. A decent children's book, with some realistic violence and a few scary situations.

Now typically considered another term for a scapegoat, the concept of the whipping boy comes from the practice of royalty using servants as a stand-in for punishment of young royal children.

For example, young Prince Henry (who would later become King Henry VIII) had his share of whipping boys during his upbringing. When young members of the royal family, such as "Great Harry", were deemed to be in need of corporal punishment, servants were often subtituted because royalty was considered sacred. Princes were required to watch as the whipping boy received the rod, the reasoning being that they would experience the servants' discomfort vicariously and thereby absorb the lesson.

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