Young Workhorse
Gym Candy
Nick George
“No. Not steroids. I’m not taking steroids”(146). Mick, the main character in this book, does everything that he can to stay away from these life changing supplements. He just can’t resist them.
Gym Candy is a realistic fiction book that shows how Mick has worked hard his whole life and has always been a football phenomenon. Mick is an amazing football player who has been taught to hold a football and run to the end zone since he could walk. Mick has the skill to make every team he tries out for, but he also works really hard. Mick makes a really good football team led by two stars that are likely going Division 1 in college football. He is determined to pass them because he knows they both have bad attitudes, if either of them have competition they will not be happy. Sure enough Mick does pass them. Mick has a certain drive that makes him special. Mick’s father states;“A little pressure is good for a boy. Keeps him on his toes”(6). His father had made it to the NFL. He did not end up playing a single snap. So he knows he needs to put a bit of pressure on Mick so he does not end up with a bad attitude like he had. Mick wants to be like his father and make it to the NFL, although he knows he needs to get stronger. Mick has always been a workhorse so he is trying to do anything he can to get stronger and he knows if he does make the NFL he will have the right attitude. He knows getting stronger will make him break more tackles and be a lot faster than he was before. A play in the Superbowl where he was tackled at the one yard line haunts him everyday. He took over the star players role on the team just so he could get tackled on the 1 on the game winning drive. Getting stronger is necessary for him so he listens to his trainer about steroids and that is exactly where he goes wrong.
This book was something I have really enjoyed reading. I do not normally love reading books but this book had me hooked from the start. It was very realistic and had a great story line that made me want to keep reading to see what would happen with Mick next. There was never a point where I got bored and wanted to stop reading and that happens to me a lot when I read books. Also, there was a lot of action and not a lot of conversations that take up pages. I like books that have less dialogue and more activity and this book was exactly that. Mick was always doing something whether it was playing football, going to school, or hanging out with his friends and playing more football. The plot of this story was well put together too, Mick experiments with the “gym candy” and everything goes downhill.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It is very easy to understand and has a story line that is not all about football or sports in general. Although, if you do play a sport the story could be more interesting for you because of the football games and practices. This book is good for people around the age 10 and up. Although it is not hard to understand it has some words that could be challenging for kids under the age of 10 or kids around that age. For example; “The leathery guy turned to me”(103). Kids of young age probably will not understand that but they will have a general idea. The book overall is pretty simple and I think kids and adults can both enjoy it because of the story line and the way it was written. Everything is explained very well along with great amounts of detail making the book simple and high quality.
By Carl Deuker
Nick George
“No. Not steroids. I’m not taking steroids”(146). Mick, the main character in this book, does everything that he can to stay away from these life changing supplements. He just can’t resist them.
Gym Candy is a realistic fiction book that shows how Mick has worked hard his whole life and has always been a football phenomenon. Mick is an amazing football player who has been taught to hold a football and run to the end zone since he could walk. Mick has the skill to make every team he tries out for, but he also works really hard. Mick makes a really good football team led by two stars that are likely going Division 1 in college football. He is determined to pass them because he knows they both have bad attitudes, if either of them have competition they will not be happy. Sure enough Mick does pass them. Mick has a certain drive that makes him special. Mick’s father states;“A little pressure is good for a boy. Keeps him on his toes”(6). His father had made it to the NFL. He did not end up playing a single snap. So he knows he needs to put a bit of pressure on Mick so he does not end up with a bad attitude like he had. Mick wants to be like his father and make it to the NFL, although he knows he needs to get stronger. Mick has always been a workhorse so he is trying to do anything he can to get stronger and he knows if he does make the NFL he will have the right attitude. He knows getting stronger will make him break more tackles and be a lot faster than he was before. A play in the Superbowl where he was tackled at the one yard line haunts him everyday. He took over the star players role on the team just so he could get tackled on the 1 on the game winning drive. Getting stronger is necessary for him so he listens to his trainer about steroids and that is exactly where he goes wrong.
This book was something I have really enjoyed reading. I do not normally love reading books but this book had me hooked from the start. It was very realistic and had a great story line that made me want to keep reading to see what would happen with Mick next. There was never a point where I got bored and wanted to stop reading and that happens to me a lot when I read books. Also, there was a lot of action and not a lot of conversations that take up pages. I like books that have less dialogue and more activity and this book was exactly that. Mick was always doing something whether it was playing football, going to school, or hanging out with his friends and playing more football. The plot of this story was well put together too, Mick experiments with the “gym candy” and everything goes downhill.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It is very easy to understand and has a story line that is not all about football or sports in general. Although, if you do play a sport the story could be more interesting for you because of the football games and practices. This book is good for people around the age 10 and up. Although it is not hard to understand it has some words that could be challenging for kids under the age of 10 or kids around that age. For example; “The leathery guy turned to me”(103). Kids of young age probably will not understand that but they will have a general idea. The book overall is pretty simple and I think kids and adults can both enjoy it because of the story line and the way it was written. Everything is explained very well along with great amounts of detail making the book simple and high quality.
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