Gym Candy [NOOK Book]

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Overview

Mick Johnson is determined not to make the same mistakes his father, a failed football hero, made. But after being tackled just short of the end zone in a big game, Mick begins using “gym candy,” or steroids. His performances become record-breaking, but the side effects are terrible: Mick suffers ’roid rage, depression, and body acne. Gym Candy’s subject matter is just as hard-hitting as its football scenes. You’ll find yourself unable to look away as Mick goes down a road that even he knows is the wrong one to travel.
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More About This Book

Overview

Mick Johnson is determined not to make the same mistakes his father, a failed football hero, made. But after being tackled just short of the end zone in a big game, Mick begins using “gym candy,” or steroids. His performances become record-breaking, but the side effects are terrible: Mick suffers ’roid rage, depression, and body acne. Gym Candy’s subject matter is just as hard-hitting as its football scenes. You’ll find yourself unable to look away as Mick goes down a road that even he knows is the wrong one to travel.

Editorial Reviews

F. Todd Goodson
With Gym Candy, Carl Deuker presents a young athlete's journey through abuse of performance enhancing drugs. Mick Johnson's father was a failure as a professional football player, and he puts enormous pressure on his son to succeed in the sport. Held back a year from starting kindergarten so he would be bigger than the other boys, Mick struggles to find his own identity as something other than a football player. Eventually he connects with a personal trainer who gets him started taking steroids. While the effects are positive at first, eventually the drugs cause his behavior to become increasingly erratic as he sinks into despair. The book ends on a positive note, but the ending recognizes the on-going struggle confronting those recovering from substance abuse. Given the on-going interest in the use of performance-enhancing drugs by professional athletes, Gym Candy should hold strong appeal to sports fans (particularly middle school and high school boys), and the book's simple, uncluttered prose should be accessible to non-readers and struggling readers. Reviewer: F. Todd Goodson
VOYA
Mick wants to blame his father for making football his life's focus, but it is only partly true. His dad has carefully planned his football career, even starting Mick in school a year late to give him a size advantage by high school as a running back. On the other hand, his mother does not even want to see the potentially violent and injurious football games. His good friends Drew and DeShawn want to excel at football also, but they were never driven like Mick. Mick was brought down just one foot from the goal line the previous season by an immense Foothill linebacker, so he works all summer to increase his size. He trains with weights to exhaustion and uses steroids to become a star, but in the end, he must accept that he does it for himself and that winning almost costs him his life and all that matters. He willingly puts up with the depression and rages that ensue. He gives up on a budding romance and on hanging out with his friends. This well-written work highlights the "bigger, stronger, faster" competitive culture to which Americans have been conditioned to subscribe in sports. Steroids have become commonplace, but this persuasive story is able to disseminate the facts and heartbreak of their use by showing what can happen to a driven, everyday guy. This story will make a great addition to both school and public libraries and an eye-opening recommendation to all budding athletes.
More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews
Children's Literature
Pressured by his former professional football player father, Mick Johnson aspires to be an extraordinary athlete. Mick practices diligently, but despite his achievements, including being selected as a starter and freshman captain of his high school team, Mick's father is never satisfied. Mick seeks quick ways to strengthen his body. He buys nutritional supplements but is disappointed when they do not significantly build muscles. Mick's father arranges for Mick to work with an athletic trainer at a private gymnasium during summer break. Charismatic Peter Volz advises Mick regarding weightlifting and also sells him performance enhancing drugs. Mick initially limits his steroids ingestion, believing he can bulk up without becoming addicted. When school resumes, Mick noticeably runs faster and lifts heavier weights. He sets records and completes thrilling plays as his team defeats rivals. Celebrated as a football hero, Mick receives desired paternal approval. Although steroid side effects, including acne and puffy breasts, upset Mick, who experiences emotional rage and depression, he escalates steroid use, injecting those drugs in an attempt to remain competitive. Mick distances himself from best friend Drew and also girlfriend Kaylee's romantic overtures. Addressing a topic impacting many teen athletes, Deuker skillfully depicts Mick's transformation into an erratic steroid addict whose extreme behavior and choices catapult his life out of control, rushing toward a shocking conclusion. This book would pair well with Robert Lipsyte's Raiders Night (2006). Reviewer: Elizabeth D. Schafer
KLIATT
To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, September 2007: Football is in Mick's blood; his father made it to the NFL, and he longs to be a star. But is the high school freshman big enough, strong enough, fast enough? He has doubts, and when a personal trainer mentions he can get steroids, Mick eventually succumbs to the temptation. Despite the side effects—zits, ‘roid rage, depression, even beginning to grow breasts—he persists in taking them, and he does well on the field. Then his best friend finds his kit, and unexpected violence results. What will it take for Mick to quit his habit? Deuker is the author of other sports-oriented YA novels, such as Runner and High Heat, and he knows his stuff—there's lots of convincing and detailed football action here. Mick's passion for the game and his willingness to do anything to succeed are believable, too. This is a solid sports tale with a valuable message about the dangers of addiction. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780547348971
  • Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Publication date: 9/22/2008
  • Sold by: Barnes & Noble
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 320
  • Sales rank: 39,600
  • Age range: 12 years
  • File size: 187 KB

Meet the Author

Carl Deuker participated in several sports as a boy. He was good enough to make most teams, but not quite good enough to play much. He describes himself as a classic second-stringer. "I was too slow and too short for basketball; I was too small for football, a little too chicken to hang in there against the best fastballs. So, by my senior year the only sport I was still playing was golf." Carl still loves playing golf early on Sunday mornings at Jefferson Park in Seattle, the course on which Fred Couples learned to play. His handicap at present is 13. Combining his enthusiasm for both writing and athletics, Carl has created many exciting, award-winning novels for young adults. He currently lives in Seattle, Washington, with his wife and daughter.

Read an Excerpt

My earliest memory is of an afternoon in June. I was four years old, and I was in the backyard with my dad. He’d just bought me a purple and gold mini football, my first football. He’d marked off an area of our backyard with a white chalk line. “Here’s how it works, Mick. You try to run there,” he said, pointing behind the line, “and I try to stop you.” He shoved the mini football into the crook of my arm, led me to the far end of the yard, went back to the middle, got down on his knees, and yelled: “Go!”

I took off running toward the end zone. Our backyard is narrow, his arms are long, and even on his knees he could move fast enough to catch a four-year-old. Time after time I ran, trying to get by him. But he never let me have anything for nothing, not even then. Over and over he’d stretch out one of his arms and tackle me. Sometimes the tears would well up. “There’s no crying in football,” he’d say, which I guess is a joke from some Tom Hanks movie, and he’d send me back to try again.

And then I did it. I zigged when he was expecting a zag, and I was by him. I crossed the chalk line at the end of the yard, my heart pounding. I remember squealing for joy as I turned around. He was lying on the ground, arms reaching toward me, a huge smile on his face. “Touchdown Mick Johnson!” he yelled. “Your first touchdown!”

All those years, I believed that every kid in the neighborhood was jealous of me. And why not? I’d spent time at the houses of the boys on my block—Philip and Cory and Marcus. I’d seen their dads sprawled out on the sofa. Mostly they’d ignore me, but if they asked me something, it was always about school. I’d answer, and then they’d go back to their newspaper. These fathers drove delivery trucks or taught high school or worked in office buildings in downtown Seattle. They wore glasses, had close-cropped hair, and either had bellies or were starting to get them. Everything about them seemed puny.

My dad was bigger and stronger than any of them. His voice was deeper, his smile wider, his laugh louder. Like me, he has red hair, only his was long and reached his shoulders. He wore muscle T-shirts that showed his tattoos—on one shoulder a dragon, on the other a snake. He kept a keg of beer in the den, and whenever he filled his beer stein, he’d let me sip the foam off the top. The way he looked, the way he acted—those things alone put him a million miles above every other kid’s father. But there was one last thing that absolutely sealed the deal—my dad was a star.

Our den proved it. It was down in the basement, across from my mom’s laundry room, and it was filled with scrapbooks and plaques and medals. Two walls were covered with framed newspaper articles. It was the headlines of those articles that told his story. I used to go downstairs into the den, pick up one of the game balls that he kept in a metal bin in the corner, and walk around and read them, feeling the laces and the leather of the football as I read. Mike Johnson Sets High School Yardage Record . . . Mike Johnson Leads Huskies over USC . . . Mike Johnson Named to All–Pac Ten First Team . . . Mike Johnson Selected in Third Round.

Sometimes my dad would come in while I was staring at the walls. He’d tell me about a touchdown run he’d made in a rainstorm against Cal or the swing pass in the Sun Bowl that he’d broken for sixty-five yards. When he finished with one of his stories, he’d point to the two bare walls. “Those are yours, Mick,” he’d say. “You’re going to fill them up with your own headlines.”

My mom had been a top gymnast at the University of Washington the same years my dad was on the football team. She runs around Green Lake every morning, and she used to do the Seattle-to-Portland bicycle race, so she knows all about competition. But every time she heard my dad talk about me making the headlines, she’d put her hands on my shoulders and look at me with her dark eyes. “You don’t have to fill any walls with anything,” she’d say. “You just be you.” Then she’d point her finger at my dad. “And you stop with all that ‘bare walls’ stuff.”

My dad would laugh. “A little pressure is good for a boy. Keeps him on his toes.”

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 84 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(61)

4 Star

(16)

3 Star

(2)

2 Star

(4)

1 Star

(1)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 84 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted September 2, 2008

    A great book for teens

    'Gym Candy' is a great book, especially for teens, and more so if the teen is in sports. This book is about a struggle to be the best. Mick Johnson, son of an NFL star, is a fantastic football player. His dad wants him to be in the NFL so bad. But when he struggles to be the best, who wouldn't do anything to overcome that obstacle. I recommend this book to anyone, because it is a great book.

    3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 7, 2012

    STOP GIVING SUMMARYS

    All of u people keep giving summarys of the book ur supposed to be telling us what u think about it it already gives us a summary so stop giving summarys and get it right

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted February 15, 2012

    Highly Recommend - you must check it out!!

    Gym candy is about a high school football running back and is forced into something that he never had even imagined before his personal trainer recommended it. he wanted to be bigger and do physical stuff longer. Mick ended up taking the steroids that his trainer put him on and was the starting running back by the end of the summer. once his friend drew, the starting QB for shilshore high, suspects something is up he tries to see what is happening.

    the entire book was well wrote and was a good read for everyone even if you dont like sports.

    i recommend this book to anyone who likes books that make you want to turn the page and keep reading.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 16, 2012

    Great book must read

    Gym Candy is a book about a kid named Mick Johnson who is a high school football player who only wants to be the best there ever was and his dad won’t accept anything less. Through out Mick’s younger life he was the oldest kid because his father held him back a year he was always the best at football till Drew came along and became his best friend. Both Mick and Drew tryout for there high school varsity team and make it but after a tough loss to there arch rival where Mick is the goat of the game, Mick deals with the struggle which all high school athletes do take performance enhancing drugs or take the high rode, which is a main struggle throughout the whole book. Mick ends up meeting this trainer from the gym he goes to and he introduces Mick to performance enhancing drugs and that’s where it all starts. Mick starts taking steroids and he starts to lose his friends and it starts to have a negative effect on his body so he stops taking them for a wile. That’s when his trainer shows him this new drug that is injected and Mick starts taking them before every game and becomes a beast on the field. That’s when Mick ends up going down the wrong way. This book is geared toward high school kids who play sports and like football. Gym Candy also is a very easy read it’s nice for kids who don’t like to read and want to start reading. This book is a great read the author Carl Deuker does a great job keeping the story together and making sure you keep flipping the pages. I find this book to be one of my all time favorites it had me going all the way to the end and I couldn’t put it down I recommend it to everyone who is into sports.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 4, 2012

    Anonymos

    This book is very good i recomend this book to all ages 9 & up

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 17, 2012

    Simply amazing

    Not a bad book to read if you are in or ever have played a sport

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 9, 2012

    more from this reviewer

    A must have!

    This book shows knowingness of the ability of how to write an intersting book. I first thought when I read this it would be good at most, but it blew away my expectations with its ability to picture the image in my head. I could see them on the weight bench with everyone standing around, going up and down with their 180's. One was draggor but I cant reacall the other ones name... Overall an amazing read and I would definately reconmend it.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 1, 2012

    Gym candy means steriods

    Totally i read it in a book crazy right
    MERMAID

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 30, 2011

    Best book

    It is awesome

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  • Posted December 14, 2011

    NOT TO BE MISSED

    Book title and author: Gym Candy
    Title of review: Gym Candy Review
    Number of stars (1 to 5): 3

    Introduction
    When is the last time you read a book? This book is the longest book I have ever read! At 387 pages! The subject of football got my attention! It is a really good book!
    Description and summary of main points
    This book is about a football player, Mike,that is pressured into using steroids to get bigger so he can be a starting running back! He ends up getting the spot because the starting running back got caught smoking drugs!
    Evaluation
    I was on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happens next! I liked it when the team was down by a touchdown and they had the ball and he was running up the middle and got in the open field. I thought they were going to score. Then a guy came out of no where and got him. Then they lost!
    Conclusion
    If you like football books you will love this book!
    Your final review
    I gave this book 3 stars because this book shows you that you don¿t have to take steroids to have a starting spot on any sport!

    By: Dyllan Wirth

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 13, 2011

    Aswesome

    Read this now

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 9, 2011

    Read this now

    :(

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  • Posted September 26, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Great sports book

    Gym Candy

    The book I'm reading is Gym Candy. I think the book Gym Candy is a great book for sports players. It tells how a running back needs to get bigger and stronger and how he does it. He works out then his trainer tells him about some stuff that would help him. The book Gym Candy is a very good book and I think a lot of people would like it.

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  • Posted September 25, 2011

    Hjc

    This book is beast :)

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  • Posted August 1, 2011

    Good read dont overlook if u love football this is ur book...

    Personally im an airhead when it comes to sports i have trouble relating to football terms they use... I really like this book has a plot & lesson to learn and its addciting from page one... I read this book beacuse i want to learn about football as a disbled person i feel clueless but i seriously want to know...

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  • Posted July 28, 2011

    Amazing book!!!!!!!!!!

    Ive read many books and this is by far in my top 5. It us a amazing story line that teaches you a valuable lesson about life and has an ending that will blow your mind!!! A must read for all book lovers!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 13, 2011

    Great Book

    This is a great story about a kid named Mick Johnson. He plays football and is great at it. His dad was a college football legend and when he got to the NFL he made mistakes. Mick also makes a huge mistake. Taking Steroids.

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  • Posted June 13, 2011

    GOOD LESSON.

    THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING, I REALLY LIKED IT. IT REALLY TAUGHT ME A LESSON OF BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR. STERIODS MAY BE SOMETHING THAT YOU REALLY WANT TO BE BETTER AT FOOTBALL BUT IT CAN BE VERY HARMFUL. THIS BOOK WILL AND BE A BOOK THAT WILL BE HARD TO PUT DOWN, I LOVED IT, AND YOU WILL TOO...AND JESSE LOVED IT TOO.

    SINCERLY MAYURA, AND JESSE

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 12, 2011

    Gym candy

    The story is about a young boy named Mike Johnson who is in the ninth grade starting high school football and has a struggle to be the best. He wants to get bigger so he starts using protein shakes then when his father takes him to a new place to work out called popyes that's were young Mike Johnson finds out that protein shakes don't work. Mike's trainer said he needs to start using "gym candy" (steriods). Then Mike finds out the side effects on the pills. The setting is in a town called longshore in present day time.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 12, 2011

    good book for teens

    I've read a good book with the title of Gym Candy in an amazing football story about this boy named Mick Chambers and his dad wanting him to be a big shot.

    The author of the book is Carl Dueker. He wrote this book to tell a life changing story. The characters of this story are Mick Johnson an his father who had the chance to go pro but went down the wrong path him an his father have a lot in common him an his father are running backs an Mick doesn't perform to the best of his abilities Mick's dad wants him to go pro but the way Mick's been playing he's not going to go. This book takes place in long shore at a public High school .Mick doesn't seem to get how good he is an hasn't been playing so good but he finds a way to keep his head up.
    I felt that as a football player you will have your up and down times and Mick had those times. He found a way to appreciate the things he has and runs with it .This book is good for football players an can make you have an up lifting spirit.

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