Gym Candy by Carl Deuker

Gym Candy

Carl Deuker

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

About this book

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.

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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

Football94%
Addiction & Substance Use for Teens91%
Coming of Age41%

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