The Whipping Boy is unique among Fleischman's books, but all of his stories display an ingenious wit and a fine ear for dialogue. The American tall tale was not devised exclusively for young adults, and Fleischman's stories should amuse readers of all ages. Josh McBroom and his neighbor, Heck Jones, are marvelously comic creations. Tall, lean, and gleeful over his own cleverness, Jones is a rural con man who originally sold McBroom an acre of worthless swamp land that McBroom has turned into an incredibly fertile farm. All of Jones's schemes are now devoted to getting that land back. McBroom always reports the most outrageous exaggerations in a serious manner.