
Gym Candy
HarperCollins · Paperback · September 22, 2008
From award-winning novelist Carl Deuker comes a gritty, heart-wrenching story about high school football, self-acceptance, and the pressures that come with being the best at any cost. “Look, Mick,” he said, “you’re going to find out from somebody in the gym, so you might as well find out from me.
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- Who it’s for
- Football’s promise of greatness meets the cost of chasing an edge.
- Genres
- Football, Addiction & Substance Use for Teens, Coming of Age
- Published
- HarperCollins, September 22, 2008
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From award-winning novelist Carl Deuker comes a gritty, heart-wrenching story about high school football, self-acceptance, and the pressures that come with being the best at any cost. “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.
Continue reading
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.” Running back 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.
The Cost of Winning
Football’s promise of greatness meets the cost of chasing an edge.
Come here for
- High-school football under unforgiving stadium lights
- Ambition, self-acceptance, and pressure to gain an edge
Expect
- Gritty, heart-wrenching stakes around being the best at any cost
- A young athlete’s struggle with success and the choices it invites
Where it sits
| Football | 94% |
|---|---|
| Addiction & Substance Use for Teens | 91% |
| Coming of Age | 41% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Coming of Age
- YA Family Stories
- Depression for Teens
- Addiction & Substance Use for Teens
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Friendship for Teens
- Mental Illness for Teens
- Peer Pressure for Teens
- Teen Pregnancy
- Authors
- Carl Deuker
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- September 22, 2008
- Format
- Paperback
- Reading lane
- Coming of Age