Gym Candy

Gym Candy

By Carl Deuker

4 ratings 6 reviews 10 followers
Interest LevelReading LevelReading A-ZATOSWord Count
Grades 9 - 12Grades 3 - 5Z+4.663932
“Look, Mick,” he said, “you’re going to find out from somebody in the gym, so you might as well find out from me. Those supplements you’re taking? They might get you a little bigger, but just a little. If you’re after serious results, there’s other stuff that produces better results much faster, stuff that a lot of guys in the gym use.” “What other stuff?” “You know what I’m talking about—gym candy.”

Runningback Mick Johnson has dreams: dreams of cutting back, finding the hole, breaking into the open, and running free with nothing but green grass ahead. He has dreams of winning and of being the best. But football is a cruel sport. It requires power, grace, speed, quickness, and knowledge of the game. It takes luck, too. One crazy bounce can turn a likely victory into sudden defeat. What elite athlete wouldn’t look for an edge? A way to make him bigger, stronger, faster?
This novel explores the dark corners of the heart of a young football player as he struggles for success under the always glaring—and often unforgiving—stadium lights.
Publisher: Graphia
Published on 9/22/2008
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 320

Book Reviews (6)

Add a Rating
Benji Gosnell Benji Gosnell

i read this for AR at my school aand it was really good!

Drew Torgerson Drew Torgerson

Gym Candy Gym Candy is about a guy in high school who is the star running back for the high school team. He is breaking records he is really fast. But there is one problem, He is small and not that strong. His high school football coach wants he to get stronger in the off season fast. He found a trainer and he said it is going to take time but not if you use steroids. So he started using steroids and it worked. He is keeping a secret and not telling anyone because he won’t be able to play. Is he going to keep a secret or not? Find out to read the book. It was a really good book because things kept happening and it was really interesting. I would recommend it to someone who like football and is the age of 10-17.

Gym Candy is a book with an emotionally strong ending. This book is about an eighth grader named Mick Johnson(protagonist). He goes through a series of tests like the 40 yard dash and stats in a scrimmage. His friends Drew and Deshawn are trying to get on the varsity team too. Mick is trying to beat the best running back in tryouts Matt Drager(antagonist). He has better stats than every other running back except Drager. Mick tries as hard as he can to be the first string running back. Mick makes the varsity team, but he is second string. His dad is happy with the results. During the season the whole team was working out in the school weight room Matt Drager and one of his friends come in and Matt's friend hold on to Mick and Matt punches him in the gut multiple times. The reason why he did that is because Matt wanted the starting spot on the team. Matt got kicked out of school and off the team after that so Mick got the starting spot. In the championship ship game against Foothill high school Mick played the whole game. He took handoffs, pitches, tosses and screen passes. Then toward the end of the game Mick and his offense where 4th down and goal. Coach downs told drew to hand the ball off to Mick for a dive. On the field when Drew snapped the ball he handed it off to Mick and Mick thought he had the winning touchdown, but one of Foothill's best linebacker tackled Mick behind the goal line and the game was over Foothill had won the championship. Later that summer at Mick’s house, Mick’s dad told him that his company got into a partnership with Popeyes gym and he said that he could get Mick a free membership. Mick says sure. He goes to Popeyes and he checks in. His dad also got Mick a personal trainer. Mick meets his personal trainer Peter Voltz and talks to him gets to know him and sets his workout schedule. After Mick’s first workout, Peter takes Mick to the back room and tells him about steroids. Peter gets Mick hooked up with a stack of steroids Like Dianabol (D-bol) and injection steroids. After starting the stack his trainer enhances the difficulty of Mick's workouts. It pays off. At the start of the season Mick was bigger and stronger than ever. After he started the steroids he was smashing through his team's number one defensive line like no one is in front of him! I like this book because the ending is very strong and emotional and teaches a good life lesson that it is never good to cheat, play with your own skill and not rely on other things. Will this be Mick's big break or will his accomplishments all fall apart. Find out in Gym Candy by Carl Deuker.

this book is really good

really good book about the struggles of football

I loved the book on how he may quit football cause I now how he LOVES football and I do to so I would now how he felt