| Gym Candy Contributor(s): Deuker, Carl (Author) |
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ISBN: 0547076312 ISBN-13: 9780547076317 Publisher: Clarion Books OUR PRICE: $10.79 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2008 Annotation: An award-winning author explores the dark corners of the heart of a young football player as he struggles for success, in this novel that tackles the issues surrounding the players decision to cross the line. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Young Adult Fiction | Sports & Recreation - Football - Young Adult Fiction | Social Themes - Drugs, Alcohol, Substance Abuse - Young Adult Fiction | Coming Of Age |
| Dewey: FIC |
| Lexile Measure: 710 |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.4" W x 8.2" (0.60 lbs) 320 pages |
| Accelerated Reader Info |
| Quiz #: 117053 Reading Level: 4.6 Interest Level: Upper Grades Point Value: 9.0 |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. 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. |
Contributor Bio(s): Deuker, Carl: - Carl Deuker is a celebrated author of "top-flight sports writing matched to uncommonly perceptive coming-of-age stories" (Kirkus Reviews). He describes his younger self 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." He was a teacher for many years in the Seattle area, where he now lives with his wife. |