Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. In the United States, there are over 400,000 kids in the foster care system on any given day, according to the nonprofit The Policy Circle. How does the foster care system work? What are the different conditions that might cause a child to enter the foster care system? What are some of the primary issues with the foster care system?

Teaching Suggestion: Carlie, Harvey, and Thomas J find themselves in foster care due to the neglect and abandonment by their caregivers, which is related to one of the key themes of The Pinballs: The Effects of Parental Abuse on Children. This prompt will give students a basic understanding of the way the foster care system in the United States works, and it will allow them to reflect upon the familial issues that might cause a child to land in the care of foster parents like Mr. and Mrs. Mason. Not reflected directly in The Pinballs, students should have their awareness raised to the fact that there are numerous issues with the foster care system.

• The Policy Circle’s “The Failures and Future of the U.S. Foster Care System” is a big-picture description and assessment of the current foster care system in America.
• USA Today’s “I Survived the Foster Care System. Dismantling It Altogether is the Only Path Forward” argues for a complete reform of the US foster care system.

Differentiation Suggestion: For advanced classes, you might ask students to work in pairs to conduct a mini-research project on the state of foster care in the late 1960s and 1970s, around the time of the publication of The Pinballs. Ask students to determine the major critiques of the foster care system at that time (if any) and then what sort of reform was conducted, if applicable. Finally, ask students to keep this in mind as they read the novel, and form an opinion as to why Byars might have left any sociopolitical critiques of the foster care system out of the book.

2. Children who experience neglect and/or abandonment from their primary caregivers may, as a result, have enduring psychological issues that last long into adulthood. What are some of the ways that neglect/abandonment might affect a person’s psychological state? Is neglect/abandonment comparable to physical abuse?

Teaching Suggestion: The children in The Pinballs are victims of active physical and mental abuse, but they’re also victims of neglect and abandonment. This prompt will help students better understand—and distinguish between—the various types of abuse that the characters face, as well as the potentially long-lasting consequences of that abuse. By extension, this prompt will help underscore the theme of The Importance of Love and Support that is woven throughout the book.

• A Place of Hope’s “The Effects of Childhood Abandonment in Adulthood” looks at the psychological impact of neglect.
• Psychology Today’s “The Painful, Long-Term Effects of Parental Abandonment” examines the lifelong impact of this type of childhood trauma.

Differentiation Suggestion: For advanced classes, this prompt could also be deepened through a discussion of the scholarly article in the Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma entitled “Is Emotional Abuse as Harmful as Physical and/or Sexual Abuse?” by Heather L. Dye of East Tennessee State University. As she discovers in the article, emotional abuse is arguably “the most damaging form of maltreatment” that causes “adverse consequences equivalent to, or more severe than, those of other forms of abuse.” Ask students to engage with the data presented in this paper, and to ask themselves if they find Dye’s argument overall to be convincing or not.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Reflect upon a time when you wanted something—but once you got it, the object of desire fell short of your expectations. What did you really want/need? What do you think held you back from seeing what you truly desired?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may offer up a wide variety of responses to this prompt, which is intentionally vague. For students struggling to come up with an example from their own lives, encourage them to think about this prompt in terms of short-term satisfaction thwarting long-term goals; there are many instances in life where a short-term desire does not align with—or, sometimes, even actively foils—a long-term goal or desire. For example, a student might desire to be a competitive pianist (a long-term goal), but on a day-to-day basis, they don’t feel like practicing repetitive scales (short-term desire). No matter how students respond, be sure to emphasize the primary point of this prompt: That a disconnect between our wants and our needs is often part of the human psyche, especially for those individuals (much like the protagonists of The Pinballs) who have suffered emotional and/or physical trauma. This prompt connects to the book’s theme of Getting What You Want Versus Getting What You Need.

• Tiny Buddha’s “Why We Don’t Always Get What We Want” explores how, ironically, sometimes not getting what you want can be a benefit.
• “10 Simple Questions to Help You Identify or Clarify Your Needs” in PsychCentral is a practical article to help better align your short-term desires with your long-term needs.