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    The Pinballs
    The Pinballs
    The Pinballs
    Audiobook2 hours

    The Pinballs

    Written by Betsy Byars

    Narrated by Christina Moore

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    When you're a pinball, life is a risky game, especially for three adolescent children placed in a foster home. Their hard-won defenses are firmly in place as these three uneasy strangers meet their foster parents. For each of these children who were failed by their families, caring for others is so scary it hurts. No one has been in control. But as their daily lives become dotted with fried chicken dinners, puppies, and birthdays, they begin to hope that even pinballs can be winners. Betsy Byars, the National Book Award-winning author of McMummy, writes stories that are beloved by young listeners, their parents and teachers alike. Her thoroughly believable but quirky characters have captivated countless fans; The Pinballs was chosen by almost sixty thousand children in Georgia as their favorite book. The American Library Association agrees, designating it an ALA Notable Children's Book.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMar 20, 2009
    ISBN9781440730603
    Author

    Betsy Byars

    <p><strong>Betsy Byars</strong> is the author of many award-winning books for children, including <em>The Summer of the Swans</em>, a Newbery Medal winner. <em>The Pinballs </em>was an ALA Notable Book. She is also the author of <em>Goodbye, Chicken Little</em>; <em>The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish</em>; and the popular Golly Sisters trilogy.</p>

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    Reviews for The Pinballs

    4/5

    120 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This book was so good my daughter wanted to know if there was a sequel. Unfortunately, there is not.

      The way the characters grew and changed impressed both my daughter and myself.

      A great read for children and adults!
    • 4/5
      Three children arrive at a foster home on the same day, angry, disappointed, and scared. How they learn to cope with their family issues and each other isn't portrayed in a contrived manner, but more realistic...with a touch of hope. Satisfying read, wish it were longer.
    • 5/5
      I do not full remember this book but I do remember it had a profound impact on me. I read it is a child/pre-teen/young teen (don’t remember exactly but before high school) and it was one of three books from that time that I decided to keep forever. I was a prolific reader at the time but passed on most books, yet this one remains in my collection in tatters. It was understandable and relatable despite being so far removed from “the average” experience. It started my life-long desire to adopt or even foster, despite that I have never managed to fulfil it.
    • 4/5
      Even though this was written with children in mind, I found myself getting emotional reading this story about three children in foster care. One child had been raised by elderly twins and doesn't even know his real birth date or age. The second child had both of his legs broken when his dad in a drunken rage "accidentally" ran over them. The third child, the one with the most personality, was abandoned by her parents and comes across as very jaded about the whole system. She is the one who came up with the nickname "pinballs" because they were bounced around the system exactly like pinballs, with no control over their destinies. It takes some time and some hard lessons learned before each child realizes they are not pinballs.
    • 3/5
      Kids in foster care. Nice, happy ending.
    • 3/5
      Three children--two boys and a girl--end up in foster care at the Masons home. The girl is the most outspoken of the three. She describes them as pinballs--being directed by forces outside their control. Over time, she comes to realize how much she cares for these people who have now become her family and decides that pinballs is not an apt description for them. I do wonder if the fact that three kids have such bad things happen to them that they have to go live with someone else might not be too disturbing for the young readers for whom this is written. I had picked it up thinking that I might pass it on to my nephew, but decided not too because of the subject matter.
    • 3/5
      I think I could use this book in a classroom if I was in an alternative school, where maybe some of my students were going through a similar situation. I think it would be good for middle schoolers. During this time, students start to become aware of backgrounds of other students. If I used this book, I could use it for a lesson on theme or characterization.
    • 3/5
      Always heard about this book growing up. Finally got to read it this past week and it's a decent (and sad) little story. Each of the three foster kids all had their own tragedies they had to deal with. Harvey's mother made me sad and the Benson twins were a bit freakish and Carlie annoyed me at first but then improved - which I'm sure was the author's intention. I thought it would end with them getting adopted by the Masons or at least one kid returning to their home, but nope. Will definately be reading this one to my son!
    • 4/5
      I remember reading this book in elementary school and feeling heartbroken for the characters. The characters in this book are called Pinballs because they are foster-children bounced from house to house. If you want a quick read that will have you feeling some emotion, check this book out.
    • 5/5
      i loved the book .It is an amazing book to read.The book is good because it talksabout kids in an foster home who have a different story behind them.And how they don't get along at frist and then by the end of the book they are all friends.
    • 4/5
      Good book about kids in foster care, abuse, neglect but without being too graphic or unsettling for young readers. Characters are realistic, if somewhat dated, and easy to relate to. A good post reading activity would be to "finish" the story for one of the children.
    • 3/5
      This is the story of 3 young children placed into a foster home for very different reasons. They struggle to adapt in their new enviroment as well as with each other. They feel like pinballs with no say in what happens to them.This was a moderately good story about children put in situations they have no control of because of their age. Your heart goes out to them, you wonder what these adults are thinking as they ruin their children's lives.This would be a good book for a short reading session. Children can empathize with these charchters quite well.
    • 3/5
      This is a touching and heart warming story. Carlie, Harvey and Thomas J., are three foster children, who have been taken in by the Masons. The girl, Carlie, is the oldest and the toughest of the three. She is convinced that people are not to be trusted. Harvey has two broken legs, the result of being run over by an alcoholic father and abandoned by his mother 3 years earlier. Thomas J was also abandoned; he was found as a toddler by the elderly twin sisters Benson, whose minimal love and care for him has ended when both of them are hospitalized with broken hips. The Masons provide a supportive environment that helps the three children learn to care for each other and begin to experience love and trust. This novel shows that there is not just “bad” in the world and young people can actually do something about their future. They are not just “pinballs” pushed constantly in new directions by fate or outside forces. It makes one realize that love, hope and trust are not impossible dreams, but reality and it’s available to those who are willing to believe in and accept them.