The Pinballs is a 1976 young adult novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author Betsy Byars

Betsy Byars

Betsy Cromer Byars is an American author of children's books. Her novel Summer of the Swans won the 1971 Newbery Medal...

. The story is about three foster children, Carlie, Harvey and Thomas J., who have been taken in by the Masons, a couple who have cared for many other foster children in the past in also have some personal problems . Carlie compares the children to pinball

Pinball

Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...

s, controlled by external forces and at the mercy of fate. It won the 1977 Josette Frank Award

Josette Frank Award

The Josette Frank Award is an annual children's literary award for fiction that honors a book or books of "outstanding literary merit in which children or young people deal in a positive and realistic way with difficulties in their world and grow emotionally and morally".Known as the Children's...

, the 1980 William Allen White Children's Book Award

William Allen White Children's Book Award

The William Allen White Children's Book Award is an annual book award chosen by Kansas students. It was established by Ruth Garver Gagliardo in 1952, in memory of William Allen White and is administered by Emporia State University. It was the first statewide readers' choice book award in the United...

, and the 1980 California Young Reader Medal

California Young Reader Medal

The California Young Reader Medal is an award given annually to books nominated and voted on by children in California. The medal was established in 1974 and encourages recreational reading...

.

TV movie

In 1977, the book was made into an episode of the ABC Afterschool Special

ABC Afterschool Special

The ABC Afterschool Special is an American television anthology series that aired on ABC from 1972 to 1996, usually in the late afternoon on week days. Most of the episodes were dramatic presentations of situations, often controversial, of interest to children and teenagers. Several episodes were...

 series, starring Kristy McNichol

Kristy McNichol

Christina Ann "Kristy" McNichol is an American actress.McNichol is best known for her roles as Leticia “Buddy” Lawrence on the television drama series Family and as Barbara Weston on the sitcom Empty Nest. She is also the sister of former child actor Jimmy McNichol...

, Johnny Doran

Johnny Doran (actor)

Johnny Doran was an American child actor, whose career was most active in the 1970s. He received praise for his 1972 performance in F. Jasmine Addams, a play based on Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding. -Filmography:...

 and Sparky Marcus

Sparky Marcus

Sparky Marcus is an American actor born December 6, 1967 in Hollywood, California. He had a prolific career as a child actor.-Career:...

 as the three children.

Plot

Three kids by the name of Carlie, Harvey, and Thomas J.(For Jefferson) go to live at a foster home with Mr. and Mrs. Mason, an infertile couple. The Masons have been foster parents for 17 kids already. Carlie thinks it's a stupid place and is skeptical. But she has to stay there until her mother and her stepfather work out their problems. Two other children arrive: Harvey, who has broken legs and Thomas J., who has grown up with two very old twin sisters who found him in front of the farmhouse when he was 2 years old. The twins are now both in the hospital. Thomas J. isn't unhappy, but has to learn how to express himself. He gets help from Mr Mason.
Harvey is very unhappy and needs the others badly, although he has trouble admitting that. Eventually he confesses his father ran over his legs with his car (at first he told everyone he was a quarterback and got tackled too hard). He argues with his dad about his mother, who lives in a commune. His father denies that she ever wrote Harvey back.
Harvey has a habit of making lists of the things that bother him.
Carlie at first feels neglected. She thinks about running away, but slowly changes her mind. She takes the decision to take her fate in her own hands, and stop being a defenseless pinball. When Harvey is in the hospital, Carlie and Thomas J. give him a puppy for his birthday, which gets him through the pain. Carlie comes up with a name for the puppy: Quarterback. Carlie sees they are not pinballs, because pinballs can't control where they are going, the children can.