Gym Candy

By: Carl Deuker

Narrated by: Kyle McCarley

Running back Mick Johnson has dreams: dreams of cutting back, finding the hole, breaking in to 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.

©2008 Carl Deuker (P)2013 AudioGO

Critic reviews

“A solid sports tale with a valuable message.” (

Kliatt)

“Deuker skillfully complements a sobering message with plenty of exciting on-field action.... [A] solid addition to the sports fiction shelf.” ( Booklist)

Scaryness of highschool sports

Loved this read. Brings up the scary presures that youth athletes have to deal with.

Great message, great story

My students, especially the boys, love this book. It takes the reader through a boy's usage of steroids and makes us understand how he makes that choice. The main character is believable, and I spent the entire book telling him not to do it, while understanding why he did.

Really good.

I relate to Mick a lot. I’m a running back too, and I know what Mick means when he feels like he’s a hummingbird, or a bull, or a bullet. It is REALLY good. The performance is not great though.

Totally Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Loved it! There really isn't any spots where it's not interesting and the story has a great plot too!

The Change of moods in the story

Absolutely strong with emotion and is just absolutely lovely with mood changes and unexpected switches