Gym Candy

by Carl Deuker

“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.

Genres: Sports, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Football, Contemporary, Middle Grade

320 pages, Hardcover

First published September 3, 2007

Reviews

[Lex’s Library · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am furious and disgusted with Peter.

[REVIEW]

*Trigger/content warnings in this book for attempted suicide, drug abuse (steroids), fatphobia, and homophobia*

My high school library was giving this book away for free, and the high Goodreads rating and reviews had me excited. Unfortunately, I found more things that bugged me than immerse me, from unnecessary scenes, to a lack of descriptions and explanations, to a couple of unchallenged homophobic and fatphobic comments.

MY THOUGHTS ON...

WHAT I LIKED:

•The strongest points in this book were how Deuker wrote Mick’s infatuation with getting stronger in football. We saw this start as early as preschool, with his father pressuring him to be the strongest and best. From there, we watched Mick’s dilemma with whether or not to take certain steroids; his fear being discovered by his teammates, coach, and/or parents; the effects on his physical and mental health the more and longer he took them; and then Mick feeling lost and terrified after being found out. These issues and aftermath were not ignored or minimized. They only lurked and grew stronger, which made Mick’s infatuation more disturbing to read about.

CRITIQUES:

•Look, I’m not a football expert (or a sports expert for that matter). To this day, I still sometimes say “Did the team make a goal?” instead of “touchdown.” In this book, there was a lot of football talk and terminology, as expected. But I felt like the author simply expected the readers to already know everything about football. He never bothered explaining what certain terms meant. If it was because he worried about explaining would slow down the plot, he could’ve at least made a glossary at the end of the book. There were also times I thought instead of using a football term, he could’ve used more descriptions of how Mick was feeling as he ran, dodged, and tackled.

•There were certain scenes I felt could’ve been cut out, and other scenes I wish I could’ve been utilized more. One example is when Mick got his driving license. If that had been cut out, I don’t think it would’ve affected the story. One way it could’ve been effective is if Mick had lost his driving privileges because of the steroids, whether before or after his parents found out. It could’ve shown how the steroids were taking more from Mick than giving.

•There were two instances with unchallenged fatphobia and homophobia. For the homophobia, Mick thinks his trainer, Peter, is gay, which gives him a bad feeling. He then learns Peter isn’t, and then everything’s fine. It just felt like this situation wasn’t challenged or handled well at all.

Later in the book Mick made a fatphobic remark when meeting up with a peer at church. Mick tells the reader that he’s jealous of him, explaining that even though this guy is fat, he has a girlfriend and is very happy. This did not fly with me. I wish this belief that being fat equals being unhappy would stop (in stories AND in real life).

•The women in this book didn’t have as much personalities as characters such as Mick and his dad. The two “major” female characters in the story were Mick’s mom and Kaylee, Mick’s crush. Kaylee hardly did anything but talk to Mick. All I remember about Mick’s mom is that she didn’t go to Mick’s games because she grew anxious watching them. She never really did much else. Mick’s mom was definitely a character I wanted to read more about. I wish we’d seen a tension between Mick and his mom that contrasted the tension with Mick and his dad (whether that be with football or how to live through life). I think it would’ve been interesting to watch how football affected Mick’s mom’s relationship with her husband and son.

•I didn’t like that Mick was told he was totally responsible for deciding to take steroids. Seriously??? It was PETER who convinced him and sold steroids to Mick. Peter was willing to risk a boy’s mental and physical health for a few extra bucks. Sure, he told Mick to stop the medication, or gave him different ones so Mick stop getting acne. But did he really care about Mick, or did he just not want to get caught?

•Here’s the thing: I’m fine with open endings. But if you’re going to do finish a story with an open ending, there should still be *some* answered questions. There should be some ideas of where the characters will go in the future. But that wasn’t the case with the ending of Gym Candy. I get that Mick and the rest of his family are uncertain of his future. And there is a page where Mick admits that there’s a chance he could go back to steroids after rehab. I still wish we could’ve seen that development from uncertainty to confidence during rehab.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I don’t know how to wrap up other than to say I didn’t enjoy this book. I do think Deuker wasn’t afraid to talk about the effects of steroids on a teenager. But I found too many other problems with the story to rate it higher than two stars.

[Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nick Anderson

Mrs. Baltz

Pre-AP English 10

5 December 2008

Gym Candy by Carl Deuker

All his life Mick Johnson has lived and breathed football. He has dreams of one day being like his dad and being the superstar. His dad has been workin with him since he was four, taking him to all the best camps, teaching him the best moves, and teaching him the most important thing; there is no crying in football.

Mick starts his career playing pop warner football when he is little. He goes through his early life dominating the field. It is not until he reaches Varsity level that he meets his match. Matt Drager is the starting running back for Shilsole high. He is big, mean, and cocky. He gives Mick a bad time his first year and finally the next year he beats Mick up just because he could. Let’s just say they were not friends.

One day Mick’s dad comes in and tells him that the radio station he works at bought a weight lifting gym called Popeye’s. Mick had the speed and agility, but he lacked size and strength. His dad got him a personal trainer named Peter Volz. Peter notices that Mick could use a little “help.” Peter offers Mick steroids. At first Mick refuses but in the end he decides to try them. What he doesn’t realize is that he just bought a ticket for the wildest ride of his life that leads to pain, suffering, anger, and sadness.

This book in my opinion was one of the best books that I have read in a long time. It had everything that you could ask for in a book. Since it was about football, I could really relate to all that Mick was going through. I have had the same feelings of not being good enough and wanting that edge over the other player. It is always nice to find a book that you can relate to.

I really like how intense the story gets at times. For example, one time Mick was walking down the hall and someone bumped into him. As soon as the person hit Mick, the steroids took over sending him into a “roid rage.” He grabbed the person and slammed him into the lockers. He scared the person so bad that he started crying. He then realizes what was going on and regained control of himself.

In addition, the story is somewhat sad at times. The steroids do make Mick stronger, but they have many bad side effects. For instance, Mick got bad zits and started growing breasts. For a while, he could not take his shirt off without being embarrassed. I felt bad for Mick because of all that. However, I felt somewhat glad because I did not think that he should have taken the steroids so at times I thought he deserved it.

Although it tied into the story well, I did not like that the main character tried to cheat his way to the top. If he would have played fair and by the rules, I think that he could have got the same results. The only down side to that is it would have taken longer. I believe though that no good thing comes easy.

No matter what you should never, try to cheat your way to the top. It does not make a fair playing field for everyone else. However, if you want to find out what happens to Mick or if he ever gets caught, you will just have to read the book yourself.


Page Count: 313

Genre: Realistic fiction/Sports

[Bryce C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gym candy is a great book. This book starts with Mick Johnson (the main character) as a 4 year old playing football in the back yard with his Dad. He was trying to get pass his dad and score. After a few try's Mick got passed his dad and his dada was so happy. In Pop warner the league before middle school. Mick was going to be a running back, but there was a new player(Drew and a new coach. Drew was beating Mick in everything. The coach takes to him and asked if tat was all you got. Then Mick said no. Mick had a goal to do twice as more as Drew. Meaning if Drew did 7 push-ups Mick would do 14. Then the next practice Mick did what he was going to do. he was gonna go harder than Drew and do more than him. Drew and Mick started becoming good friends in middle school. Then in high school. In high school there was a guy named Drager. He was the running back. Mick had a big competition to beat. Read more the book to find out what happens next. This book is a great book and I recommend this to people who enjoy football. This book is better than the Mike Luciaps books, well I think. I still like the Mike Luciap books, but this is better.

[Debby · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book intrigued me and I anticipated being drawn in to a high-interest and provocative plot (high school athlete takes steroids to remain competitive). That plot point was there, but was not well developed. The bulk of the book is detailed play-by-play recounting of the athlete's football practices (!) and games. Even a sports fan like me cannot maintain a high level of interest in the minutiae of practices. So much more could have been done with developing the relationship between father and son, with the struggles of the friendship between two teammates, and with the seductive attraction of the promise of benefits from steroid use.

[Noah Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very good, as at the very end of the book i liked how the author used very descripted evidence on how the character felt. "When he was sitting in a strangers room and he heard screaming down the hall he wanted to scream too. "

[Cameron Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gym Candy by Carl Dueker is a Realistic fiction novel about a high schooler named Mick who has a problem with steroid use. Mick has been the star of the football team from when he was a pee-wee. But he wanted to keep on getting better. His freshman year he was on the varsity team. He only played a little but, he did see the field unlike some of his teammates. But he wasn’t satisfied with just a little playing time, so he started going to a gym called popeyes, there he worked out super hard with his personal trainer named Peter. Mick and Peter got to know each other pretty well. Peter told him that the key to success in super athletes is steriods. At first Mick was a little shaky on the idea but then he decided to trust peter and start buying from him. I can personally relate to this in a way because I have developed relationships with coaches and trainers before and you look up to them as a role model. When a role model tells you that if you want to play in college you need to do steroids, it’s hard to say no because you trust that person. You would always think that the coaches and the trainers want what’s best for you and that’s what Mick thought also. Although I have never been offered steroids before I can see how Mick felt pressured into doing it. Along with the fact that he wanted to be very dominate next year and be a starter. Finally, I would recommend this book to anyone who plays sports or has enjoyed sports books in the past, it is very well written and is a page turner!

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally! I finished this book. Finally!

I have so much to say about this book. At first, I thought the plot was interesting. I wanted to see how a football player goes through their up's and down's. How he wants to go to the extremes for his love for football. But as the book progressed, the story bored me. The plot was really slow when coming to the climax. And there was not much hype throughout the book. Not only that, there was a lot of football talk. And if you know me, I don't have a clue about sports. I know nothing. But the author thinks that the reader knows a lot about football, so he never even bothered explaining it. So for half of the book, I sat there clueless.

Those two things really did bother me, which is why this book lost 2 stars. But on the other hand, this book struck my heart. The whole time I was reading this book, I thought that this was the book that you learn a short, easy lesson on. Totally wrong. Yes, the book showed me a lesson. But it was a big lesson. It was about a heavy topic, about drugs. Of course, I know drugs are wrong. However, I never realized why people actually take drugs. Not only that, but the extreme consequences it has on that person and their whole life.

This book helped me look at life in a whole different perspective. It really showed me the traits of a true human being. However, I would not recommend this book to everyone. It was a hard read, and it is a heavy topic to take in.

[Claude's Bookzone · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a kid named Mick he was born with football in his blood. He was tall, has brown hair, and is one of those kids that was considered to be a jock. Mick lived in Colorado. He was always waiting for the next season and the next touchdown that he was going to make. The only thing that he didn't have was the strength and all of his coaches told him that. He kept working really hard and his coaches gave him the chance to play at the last game, and of they won his team would be named the champions. At the last quarter they were down by a couple of points and if Mick made the goal they would win, but if he didn't get the goal his team would go home with nothing. Mick gets the ball and runs to the goal but all of the sudden, the defense guy comes racing after him, Mick just needed to get further, but he could feel himself falling. Their team lost the game and Mick was so disappointed.
The next season came by and Mick's dad told him that his work now owned this new gym, so he could go there and workout and get stronger. So the next day Mick shows up there and he meets his trainer Peter. Peter talked about what Mick would be doing and what days he would be there. Mick wasn't sure that he liked Peter so he didn't show up until a week later. Peter said that they should go next door and talk, so they went to the other store and they got to know each other. Mick told Peter how the last game ended, and he told him that he thought the guys on the other team were on steroids. Weeks had gone by and Mick was trying to get stronger, but he wasn't. Peter told him about these pills that you could take to get stronger, but they were steroids. Mick gets stronger while he was taking the pills, but they were making his body do weird things. So mick asked of there were anything else that wouldn't make his body do that and Peter told him that there were these shots that you would take, Mick didn't know if he should take them but then he decided if it would help him with football, he would do it. The team was at the final game and Mick kept scoring touchdowns and their team was up. The last seconds of the game the other team didn't score so that meant that Mick and his team won. But at the last quarter Mick had to take the steroids so he would be ready and his best friend asked him what he was doing. Well his friend found the steroids and mick shot himself, then he had to go to rehab. I thought that the book was very good and it told a life lesson that people should know. I would recomend this book to a kid that likes football, or a person that likes a story that you can learn something from. The conflict in they book was that Mick was taking steroids to get better at football. And at the end Micks friend, had him go to rehab. That was the resolution of the conflict.

[Trailer Geeks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the Battle of the Book list in 2016. I normally do not lean toward sports books, but hoped this would surprise me. Unfortunately, it did not. "Gym Candy" follows a boy, Mick, throughout his football career. His dad was an ex-football player who pushed the sport onto Mick since he was a baby. Mick's father is so insistent on Mick being a football star that he even goes as far as to hold him back a year from school. He plays football for years, and in high school, begins to use steroids for fear that he is not good enough.

My main complaint with "Gym Candy" is that it has absolutely NO character development and provides a horrible example for the children and young adults it was written for. The book is centered around steroids (also known as gym candy). Throughout the story, Mick begins to see the disgusting parts of the steroids, but refuses to stop taking them. There is nothing in the world that is more important to him than football. He gives up his friends, a potential girlfriend, and a life, for football. This would be acceptable if Mick was able to learn his lesson in the end, but he never does. The story ends with him being just as idiotic as he was at the start. Mick has the type of personality that makes you wish you could punch a piece of paper.

The next thing I have to complain about is the in-depth descriptions of football plays. This may not bother the majority of the people who decide to pick up a book with a football player on the cover, but it was a pain to me. "Gym Candy" will have multiple pages just describing a single play, and a chapter describing a game. For people who not fully understand the specifics of the game, or simply to not want to spend 30 minutes reading about how someone was tackled, these descriptions will probably be a pain to you too.

[Cathy]

I wanted to read this book because it was recommended to me by a student. I could have done without the football game play-by-plays (and I did eventually just skim over those), but the actual story of the young man and his struggle to live up to his dad's legacy was a good one. I'll be recommending this one to my sport-fanatic reluctant readers.

[Mitchell W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the Best Books I’ve Ever Read
Gym Candy, by Carl Deuker was one of the best books that I have ever read. I grabbed this book because of its cover and how the book related to football, but after I read it, I realized that this book is more about just a football game.
The story starts out where a football player, Mick Johnson, was a star running back for all of his teams he played on. In any game he played, he scored a touchdown. On any play in his games, he ran the ball. Mick Johnson was an all-star and wanted to become just like his dad, who became pro after playing for the Washington Huskies. Mick’s dad’s career was cut short after a broken ankle, early in his career in the NFL. After a little research on his computer, Mick soon realized that his dad was a complete fraud, and that his dad got cut from his NFL team and was a lazy football player. Mick would do anything to be more than his dad, so he did. After becoming the starting running back for his varsity team, Mick came up one yard short of scoring the game winning touchdown for his team. He did not have what it takes to get the extra yard. He wanted to become stronger and fast. One day, one of his teammates introduced him into something that would make him faster, stronger, and a better football player, but the price Mick would be willing to take might affect the rest of his career as a football player. Does Mick agree with his decision and face extreme consequences, or does he play it safe and become a better man than his dad? Read the book to find out.
This book is very entertaining and action-packed in every chapter, and the book gets better and more suspenseful as you read deeper into the book. This book is based on the choices a young man has to make in order to become a better football player, and this book would be recommended to mostly teens, but also some adults as well. This book would be a perfect read to any middle or high schooler that loves the game of football or any other sport, but this book would not be for anyone that does not like sports or face-paced books because this book is very face-paced and this book is directed towards sports players, especially football players. This book would also not appeal to younger audiences, because of the continuous talk and use of drugs throughout the book. The action throughout the book gave me a better understanding of some ideas and events throughout the book, but the author did speed ahead of some important events. He also did not include lots of writer’s craft and some parts of the story was just word for word and boring. I sometimes lost track of where I was in the book too because of the lack of good writing in some parts of the story. He also did not use that much dialogue too to go along with the rest of the book.
The plot of the story does twist and turn in certain spots, and the plot is also very easy to understand and compelling in the least. You could read this book in a day and still know everything about the story and the plot. The way the author described Mick’s football games and the drama Mick was involved in could have had more description and detail, but the book was still a good read. The plot did lack some tone and mood to the book, but the plot still draws you into the book.
In conclusion, this book is a very good read for any teenager who loves football and any sport, but also for any adult who loves football too. This book did not have lots of writer’s craft or a good tone and mood, but the life lesson this story leaves you definitely will make you want to read Gym Candy, by Carl Deuker.

[Javier G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal Response
This book has taught me many dangers in lifting and many struggles I can relate to. As a lifter and football player, it is easy for me to relate to many of the things Mick has faced. I want to get big fast, but I have to watch out for many people selling me stuff, and I think it is completely wrong for a person to use steroids.

Plot
The main problem in this book is that Mick has been pushed all his life to play football by his dad. His dad was a football athlete back in the day, but he was kicked off of teams because of many wrong choices he has done. Mick has always been a year older than his grade, and that is because his parents started school late for him. At the school he was playing the head coach stepped down. The new coach was mean to Mick, because he knew his dad and Mick’s dad had ruined the new coach's carrer back in the day. Another person from another school was watching Mick and some other players in a game. Mick got invited to that school and he started playing football there with a couple of other friends. Mick wanted to be starting, but they didn’t let him because he was just a freshman. Mick got mad at that, so he wanted to get stronger faster. His dad told him to start training at a gym called Popeyes, so Mick went there and trained there all the time. His personal trainer, Peter Volz, found out Mick wanted to get stronger and faster. In that case he asked Mick if he wanted to try steroids but pill ones. Mick thought about it and decided yes, but there were side effects to the plls. Mick didn’t like the side effects, so Peter introduced him to another type of steroids, but you had to inject them. Mick got caught using them by his friend, and Mick tried to commit suicide, but failed at it, and he got stuck in rehab.

Recommendation
I recommend this book to many athletes, especially football players. I say this, because many football players want to be the strongest on the team or the starting player. I, as a football player, wanted to be starting defense, but I never got a play in defense in any game we had. I was always starting offense. I wanted to get stronger faster, but then I realized I could lift a lot in the off season and work my way there. I have heard of many good players using steroids because they wanted to be the strongest team out there, and end up ruining their career as a professional football player. I also recommend this book to athletes because it shows what would happen if they decided to use steroids or any type of drugs like that. It's better to go natural, and not use any type of harmful drug.

Characterization
Mick was pushed as a little kid to play football. He started to learn the game and was a really good running back. He was always older than his grade, and that made him better at the game of football. He has been confident that he would always be a starter on the football team. When he started to play football in his new school he had been told that freshman never start, but he tried to start but never got to. Once the new coach, Carlson, came he said he makes who ever is the best players starters including freshman. Mick got worried, and started to use steroids so a fresham did not win his place. After steroids he was worried he would get caught. When he got caught he decided to try to kill himself and failed. Now he realizes he should have never used steroids

[Harry Costea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book because it started off as a football player who was just trying to make the team his freshman year. Then after his freshman year he starts to talk about how he's not doing enough in football so he gets on the steroids and his team goes undefeated but someone found his steroids. Then he tries to shoot himself but is saved by a friend. He ends the book in rehab debating whether to take them again.

[Lauren Herzog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boys will enjoy ALL of the sports jargon and references, and I like how it teaches about side effects of steroid use.

[Sean Kang · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book for a 12 year old until the last 15 pages when the author get on steroids. So mid

A recommend the book the Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong :)

Lesson learned: don’t inject needles in your ass

[Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book about sport, especially football. It is about a high school plyaer that uses drugs to improve his performance at games and is a really good read because it makes you stay hooked on the book.

[Levi Erdmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

My personal response to this book is that it was amazing! I really liked this book because I could put myself in his shoes somewhat. The author really made me feel a connection with this book and I felt he did a very good job describing almost every detail. He told the story in a way that you felt you were there right alongside Mick.

The plot of this story is simple. Mick was an 8th grader who got asked to play some spring football with the high school team. His friends Drew and Deshawn were also asked. He went to it and impressed the coach but a lot of the upperclassmen hated him. Drager was the starting running back and Mick had Drager scared he was going to lose his starting spot. Then the regular season started and Drager got suspended which meant Mick was now the starter. Mick did pretty well until the conference championship game. He was stopped a yard short on his attempt to win the game. So all through the winter and summer he started lifting weights at a gym. His personal trainer, Peter, got Mick to buy steroids. Mick was very impressed with the results and kept taking them. His best friend Drew eventually found out and Drew planned to tell the coaches. Mick couldn't let that happen because then his chances of going pro were over. He threatened to shoot drew but ended up shooting himself. He missed his brain and just grazed his head. He went to a rehabilitation center and just wants to get out now.

Mick started off as a young innocent kid that lived and breathed football. As he got older he went to camps and really excelled in his position. One day he was beaten up in the weight room while his "friends" just watched. Nobody tried to stop the brutality and he then learned that those people weren't really his friends. Then there came a day where he realized it's not about fun but about winning. He thought he was too small to win so he needed something to give him an edge. He wasn't thinking thoroughly and made a bad decision by using steroids. He ended up facing his consequence which is not being able to play football anymore.

I would recommend this book to anybody who loves sports. I would also recommend this to people who want to know about the consequences of using steroids. I believe anybody in high school could read this and it is a fairly short book because of how addicting it is to read.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

As you can tell I basically only read sports books. Mainly by Carl Deuker.
This book is the best book I have ever read. Mick Johnson started kindergarden late so he is a year older than everyone. His dad was a great running back in college but then screws everything up in the NFL. Mick's dad tells him that he didnt play in the NFL because of some ankle injury. Mick decides to look on the internet to see if his dad is telling the truth. Mick finds out he wasn't. There is a gym called Popeye's and Mick's dad owns it. Mick starts working with a personal trainer named Peter Volz. Mick is on protein shakes and pills, when Peter tells him about gym candy(steriods). Mick starts taking them and everything is going fine, life and football. Mick stops taking the first kind of steriods which are D-bol when he starts growning breast. Peter tells him about the injection, then Mick decides to take that. Just steriods take over his life. Mick wants to be the best football player he can. When he is a sophmore there is this 8th grader Dave Kane who Mick thinks is better the he is. So Mick quits taking steriods until he is so concered about losing his starting job he takes the most powerful steriods there are. When he takes them he feels so strong, but then comes the emotional roller coaster. One minute he will be fine the next he wants to kill someone(that is actually a true fact). Mick's best friend finds out that Mick is on steriods and Drew confronts Mick about it. They met at this lake and Mick has a gun. Drew says he is going to tell coach, that is when Mick theartens that he will shot Drew. Drew just keeps on walking, then Mick shots himself. Mick doesn't kill himself though because he twitch right before he pulled the trigger. That is all I am going to say but READ THIS BOOK!

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Gym Candy and the main character in the book is all about football, he loves it. It was inherited by his dad who played pro football. Mick is the main character and he has to face lots of challenges with new coaching, finding more information on his dad, and being pressured to take steroids.
I loved the start of the book because right away the story was on. It talked about the first time he scored a touchdown with his dad. I loved how when he took steroids it went to a personal standpoint, like how he went to go swimming with a girl he liked but she freaked out because he had zits all over his back and he had puffed up nipples.
I disliked that they didn't have more about the book, like if he recovered and if he got back on the football field. I wish it was longer and had a happy ending. I wish that after all of his therapy that he went back and got into college for football and made the pros. That was his dream.
People who would like this book would be people who like the suspense, the "oh no don't do that" type of readers. People who love football, mostly teens because they can relate so much to this book.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read on a topic I feel is overlooked in high schools today. The ending (epilogue)through me a curve I didn't expect. It makes you think.

Used this as a read-aloud for a class that didn't think they would like it because it involves football. What they didn't realize at first was that it contained so much more. They begged to read it when we had extra time.

[Michael McCarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was about a boy whose dad was a superstar in his high school and college years in football. He always wanted to be that good to. However he was stopped short of scoring a touchdown in the last game of the season. Then to become the best he then started taking steroids. As he started taking them he started to lose relationships and the steroids started to take over his entire life.

[Cole Hudziak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal Response: I read the book called Gym Candy. I thought it was a very good book. It was one of my favorite sports books I have ever read. It was very interesting, and it gave me some good life lessons that I can use from this book.

Plot: In the book, there was this kid named Mick. Mick was a son of Mike Johnson who used to be a professional football player. Mike lived and breathed football. He was always talking about football. Mike pushed his son to live and breathe football, and all he knew was how to play football. Mick played catch with his dad everyday leading up to high school. Mick and his friends would go to the park whenever they could and play a pickup game of flag football. They absolutely loved football and everything about it. The next year would be their freshman year and they had to beat out older players who were juniors. Drew, who was Mick’s best friend, was a quarterback. He also had to be out a junior for the starting spot. They worked really hard to get those starting spots. They did drills and got conditioned. The one thing that they didn't do was lift weights. They ended up not getting the starting spots. The coach told them they didn’t get the starting spots because they needed to get bigger and stronger. Mick was really mad. He didn't want to tell his dad because he felt that his dad would be disappointed. Near the end of the year the two juniors that had the starting positions got in trouble and couldn't play for the rest of the year. Mick and Drew finally got their chance to prove what they have. They made it to the playoffs and they were playing their rival Foothill. They were down a field goal and the team was on the five yard line near the end zone. The linebacker met Mick at the one yard line and tackled Mick backwards losing them the game. That was the end of their season. He then got motivated and started lifting weights at a gym that his dad owned. When Mick got to the gym, he had a personal trainer. His name was Peter. They got to know each other very well. The downside to Peter, was he was into steroids. Peter introduced Mick to D-bol, which was a type of steroid. Peter told Mick how it would put him above everybody and he would get the starting position. He was on that until the next season. He gained a lot of weight, and was lifting a lot more weight than he had been. He got the starting position but he could tell the steroids were wearing off. Mick wanted more and he needed to get more he thought when he actually did not. Mick wanted an upgrade and he got into shots. They injected the fluid right into his body. He became addicted in a way. Mick was always putting that first and he almost got caught with it so many times. One game Drew came into the bathroom when Mick was shooting up. Drew asked what he was doing and Mick played it off that he was going to the bathroom. When the game was over, Mick packed his stuff and the steroids were not in his bag. At this point, Mick freaked out and didn't know where his steroids were. He got back to the school and went straight to his jeep. He was driving he then got a phone call from Drew. He told Mick to pick him up at his house, because he needed to talk to Mick. He was about to leave to pick up Drew. Before he left, he grabbed a handgun and went out the door. He picked up Drew nobody talked for the first five minutes, and it was silent. They started talking when they got to the park, and Drew was just ranting about how he was going to tell coach. Mick was scared and didn't know what to do. He pulled the gun on Drew and made him promise he didn't tell anybody. Drew refused and said to Mick, “you're not going to shoot me.” Mick then put the gun up to his head and shot. Mick flinched when he shot, and the bullet just grazed his scalp. Drew picked him up and rushed him to the hospital. Mick then had to go to a rehab center, and he was not able to play football anymore let alone go to high school the way it used to be.

Characterization: Mick was one of the main characters in this book. Mick was the son of Mike Johnson who used to be a pro football player. Mick worked hard and was very dedicated to the sport that he loved. Mick had his mind set on one thing at all times. Mike was also another main character in this book. Mike was the father of Mick, and he pushed Mick really hard towards one thing. Mike was a controlling character also a very strict character.

Setting: In this book, the setting is early 2000’s in Washington. It could have happened in today's society because of the equipment that was used. This is important to know because they might not have been able to get the steroids, helmets, and pads back in the day.

Thematic connection: In this book, Mick wanted to get bigger and he wanted to do it the cheap way out so the main theme would be peer pressure. His dad pushed him to be the best and his trainer had a way to get him to be the best by using steroids.

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to any gender, ages high school and up. It has some harsh language. It is a higher reading level book, and some of the content might be harder for younger people to understand.

[Gunner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book Gym Candy by Carl Deuker and the story follows a teenage boy and his friends and they are wanting to become pro football players one day. There are in the middle school right now there names are Mick Johnson, Drew, and then Deshawn they are all on the same football team and one is a wide receiver and one is a quarterback and the other is a linebacker. But Mick johnson was running a touchdown and he is not big at all and some really big boy was coming after him and he got tackled. But then he was going to a gym and someone was trying to get him to do steriods and at first Mick didn’t wanna do them but them the guy eventually talked him into doing them and he told him he can try it one time and if he don’t like it then he don’t have to do it anymore. All of my characters were trying to make it to varsity football team and they wanted to be starters.
Mick Johnson ran into many problems while he was on the steroids while he was trying to play football and when he would run the ball in the games he would be to aggressive and he didn’t even know what he was doing because of the steroids and then he got mad and hurt this boy because he tackled him to hard then he got rejected from the rest of the game. And Mick came across many adventures while he was trying out the steroids because there were going to be many side effects, they were going to make his depressed then angry. When he was walking down the hall to go to one of his classes someone accidently bumped into him and he grabbed them by their shirt and was screaming at them. But I personally can’t relate to the book in the way he is but I have played football and i’ve gotten really mad when someone would tackle me and then I would try my best to tackle them as hard as they did to me.
The book really opened my eyes because throughout the book it really came to me and I was enjoying the book so much and it made me like never wanna stop reading it when I started but when he was playing football I felt the same way he did because when he played he tried the best that he could because he wanted to be a good influence on the rest of the football players on his team. And when he got mad at something while they were playing football he didn’t take it out on any of the others players. I like this book a lot because I love to play football or watch it or read it just anything that involves football I will enjoy it. My favorite part of the book was when they were playing one of the biggest and the most toughest school out of the whole state, and at the end of the book he tried to kill himself.
The author of my book wrote the book good because he made it where you could read it clearly and while u were reading he made it where you never wanna stop reading the book when you first start. But I would have liked it if he would have made the end of the book a little differently than he did. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes football or like to read about it or play it or just really anyone who would want to read about it. I would want anyone who likes to read or just anyone who like football in general.

[Jake Ferguson]

Warning: Content does contain spoilers and plot twists.

Gym Candy by Carl Deuker is a fiction novel following the trials and tribulations of Shilshole High School freshman running back Mick Johnson, who finds himself struggling with drug abuse and behavioral issues. Mick, the son of a successful NFL running back, tries to cling onto his spot on the varsity team by taking up steroids he acquires from his trainer and suffers from the side effects both physically and mentally. Mick becomes self conscious of his body as his side effects get worse and worse with acne and puffiness, so he steps up to a stronger steroid with no physical side effects. Mick continues to neglect his mental health as his friends and teammates take notice, while he gets what he wants, it comes at a cost. The main theme that recurs throughout the text is that adversity presents itself to the strong willed, and how you respond is what defines you. Mick’s struggles with his substance abuse emphasize that thematic concept by his willingness to accept PEDs so openly despite wanting to remain natural and not cheat himself. Mick’s friend Drew serves as the voice of reason as he offers Mick help as he knows what Mick is doing is wrong, but Mick is not willing to accept his help because he’s too prideful to admit when he has made a mistake.

Carl Deuker does a really good job at depicting a high school student's struggles with self reception and self consciousness, as Mick being ashamed of his acne and body image are common in many young people today, as mental health continues to become more prevalent in today's society. Mental health struggles are perfectly represented as Micks failed suicide is portrayed in the epilogue as he’s unsure of whether or not he’s happy to be alive as he must now face the consequences of his actions. Yet another issue seen in young men of repressing their emotions instead of being open with their problems causing greater issues is perfectly portrayed by Mick.

The novel is heavy on the football terms, which for those readers who do not follow the sport intently may cause issues as they may not be able to follow the play-by-play chapters of the games, as it does go in depth with football terminology, however I did not have an issue following as I am an avid football fan. Along with some unneeded homophobic remarks regarding the trainer Peter Volz, those are the only criticisms I have.

The struggles of a young adult and issues of being a high school athlete with fitting in socially are all encapsulated in our main character, and despite the book being aged 17 years, its social commentary has only grown in the public eye since its release.

If you enjoy Mike Lupica sports novels and the book Moneyball, you will enjoy Gym Candy.

[Mason Soerens]

PERSONAL RESPONSE
This book is incredible. It shows the struggle and hardship of playing football. It really describes how challenging it is to get good at it, and become a star athlete. Once someone is there, it is easy to do stupid things to stay there.

PLOT SUMMARY
Mick Johnson was an excellent football player, and so was his father. His father started practicing with Mick when he was really young. Going from pee wee football to high school football, Mick found challenges, but still loved the game. Challenges like when he got a new coach, and when a new kid on the team came who was really good and practiced hard. One time during his freshman year, Mick found himself not strong enough and failed to score the winning touchdown. After that, Mick started to get serious into lifting. He tried his best. He went and bought supplements to help while he was lifting, so he could get stronger. Then when he started going to a different gym, his personal trainer, Peter, introduced him to something different: steroids, otherwise know as “Gym Candy.” Mick was questionable at first, but after he tried them he was hooked. He became faster and stronger, and he loved it. Then roid rage, depression, and the fact that he could be kicked out of football set in, and everything started spiralling out of control from there.

RECOMMENDATION
I recommend this book to everyone. It is an amazing book that isn't just about sports but also dealing with criticism and trying to better oneself and facing extreme challenges. I, especially, recommend this book to sport lovers, because it shows how to be passionate about one’s favorite sport. It also shows someone trying his hardest to succeed in a sport, but sometimes it’s not worth it.

[Rob Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, slow-building, YA "issue du jour" story of a talented, enthusiastic high school football player who, due to pressures real and imagined feels he needs to be even better and so, when the opportunity arises, gets easily drawn into steroid usage.

The steroid-ingesting world is not one I am familiar with except for occasional Lance Armstrong-type scandals that show up in the news, but the way it is portrayed in this book feels realistic, both in terms of the benefits it offers (thus its attraction) and of the multitudinous physical, social, emotional, and psychological downsides.

The likable protagonist is thus shown struggling with a series unexpected problems, including:
--While under the influence, can he actually feel proud of his accomplishments?
-- How can he still spend time with his friends when they might notice the physical changes in him?
--How can he deal with the sudden onsets of roid rage and depression?
--How can he take the steroids before game time without being noticed?
--And, perhaps most insidiously, once he's begun taking them, how can he stop?

The ending is partly gratifying because it avoids the easy route (e.g., "Whew! That was a terrible experience but everything is fine now and will be in the future!") but slightly un-satisfying because it feels a bit rushed and doesn't show him face the people he lied to and alienated along the way, including his family, his best friend, his coaches, and his teammates.

A good book for high school athletes and sports fans --even reluctant readers-- though almost anyone could find it to be an engaging, quick read.

[Brayden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gym Candy
Gym Candy is a book about a kid named Mick that wants to play football for the NFL like his dad. But he ends of finding out that his dad really made it to the NFL. So, that's when he begins to question what his dad told the truth about. He ends up looking up his dad on the internet and finds out that his dad had issues coming to practices and he partied to much. He got drafted my the Charges but never played because he didn't go to practices and he loved drinking and parting. He wanted to show his dad that he was not going to be like his dad. Mick had troubles through his first year with Steroids and other things but he never gave up until he tried to kill himself but missed.


You should read this book because It is really interesting and if you love books that get you on the edge of your seat then you will love this book. This book brings a variety of feeling when your reading it. It’s emotional, surprising, and fun. It’s emotional when Mick tries to kill himself but barely misses, surprising when Mick decides to use steroids to get bigger, and fun when Mick plays in the games and they are close. Gym Candy is a good book and I recommend it.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts with the main character Mick Johnson playing football in the back yard with his dad. He was trying to beat his dad and score a touchdown. After a couple of time Mick passed his dad and scored. One day Mick was giving up on one of his teammates Drew, and Drew was beating him in everything he did. If Mick wanted to play he was going to need to show more effort, in order to be on varsity team offense and defense. After a couple practices and lifts Drew became more intense and more with it than before. And Mick's dad had given him the opportunity to go lift at this facility called Popeyes, it was free and Mick would have a personal trainer. Once Mick had started to lift at this new area he was called to the back of the gym and his trainer named Peter had showed him steroids, and Mick started taking them and paying Peter money that he had made working for his dad. Once Mick's season began he was in the process of using illegal steroids and after the season was on the way and the games came along Mick was doing amazing, there was so many records broken and he made his whole team happy with him. After games were flying by and the season was about over Mick had been caught using steroids and he was then suspended from the team for a week and could not play until the last game. The last game was the week Mick was back and could play it was against Foothill an undefeated team, Mick only went in a few times because of his poor action with the steroids, but once the game was over Shilshole had won the game with a score of 24 t0 6 Shilshole had won the title. I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys reading football books, Mike Lupica is also one of my favorite sports authors.

[Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book Gym Candy by Carl Deuker is a story about the rise and fall of a star football player Mick Johnson. Mick didn't realize he was gonna be that good at football until he became the star running back. He knows his team isn't very good so his dad suggests that he starts to hit the weight room and carry his team to victory. Mick got introduced to steroids by one of the trainers he had and he fell into a depression and started to take them more and even started injections to be the star football player.

The author used irony throughout the story and one of the quotes that stood out to me was "As game time neared, a sense of power filled me. It started in the back of my head and spread like a wildfire until I felt as if I was going to explode." This is ironic because it shows how intense a game could be to someone he hasn't even played yet but it was near the time of the game and he felt like his head was going to explode.

The author used a good amount of figurative languages like similes and metaphors throughout the story one of them is Micks gym coach who supplies him with "gym Candy" says "if D-bol was like hitch hiking a ride on a express train this is like blasting off taking a rocket." A book that i think would be a good comparison is if you have read the book friday night lights. I would give this book a 5/5 rating it was a very interesting book to read.