Carlie, Harvey, and Thomas J. are three kids with one thing in common – they were put in the Masons' foster home because their families have neglected and/or abused them. Harvey is in a wheelchair because his father ran over his legs with his car while drunk, Carlie was removed from her home after her stepfather hit her one time too many, and Thomas J., who was cared for by a pair of elderly twins, was taken out of their home after they were hospitalized with broken hips.
Each deal with their trauma in different ways - thirteen-year-old Harvey is withdrawn and sullen and writes lists of negative events that have happened to him, eight-year-old Thomas J., who has been looking for his biological mother his whole life, grows very attached to the Masons, and fifteen-year-old Carlie insults everyone while maintaining a tough exterior and demanding attention.
Carlie's Change
Of all the characters in the novel, Carlie changes the most. At first, she is liberal with put-downs and doesn't trust anyone. She even accuses Thomas J. of stealing one of her earrings. But as she gradually gets to know Harvey, she begins to empathize with him. He slowly opens up to her and tells her how he really broke his legs and how his mother left him and his father to "find herself" in a hippie commune. To face the reality of her own home situation, Carlie often makes jokes about it, but inside, she wants security and affection.
Resigning herself to the fact that most adults disappoint her and that she only has herself and her friends to rely on, she becomes protective of Harvey and Thomas J. When Harvey's father comes to visit, she calls him a bum and is angry that Mrs. Mason let him see Harvey. After Harvey lands in the hospital with an infected leg, she realizes that she doesn't always have to be the center of attention and she and Thomas J. try their best to cheer him up, even buying him a gift that he's always wanted that his father refused to get for him. Carlie takes Thomas J. to the school he will be attending and gives him some words of encouragement.
Major Themes
Byars uses humor and realistic dialogue to convey the seriousness of child abuse and neglect and how unfair life can be. The parents in the novel are portrayed as violent, selfish, forgetful, and out of touch with their child. For example, the eighty-eight-year-old Benson twins get Thomas J. pencils with his name on them one Christmas instead of a gift a boy his age might really like, and Carlie's mother, believing Carlie caused her stepfather to hit her, sends her away to the foster home.
The kind, patient Masons are the ideal parental figures, and Byars uses them to show that despite having destructive pasts, with the right guidance and determination, children can work towards a happy and productive future.
Byars, Betsy. The Pinballs, HarperCollins 1977, ISBN 0-06-020918-6
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