GYM CANDY BY CARL DEUKER

RELATING TO FRANKENSTEIN

• In the book Frankenstein the monster is big, ugly and scary.
• In the book Gym Candy Mick turns himself into a monster by taking steroids.
• Pete Volz is kind of like Victor because he gives the steroids to Mick, which help create his monster.
• When Mick takes the steroids he becomes big and ugly like Frankenstein's monster.
• As a result of steroids Mick attempts suicide like the monster, thankfully Mick didn't succeed.

SETTING

• Present
• Seattle, Washington
• Mick's house. A lot of time is spent here playing football.
• Popeye's Gym. Many mistakes are made that ruin Mick's life.
• Photo from http://www.cleanimagesearch.com/media/action/gi/search

MICK JOHNSON

• Tall and muscular boy.
• Wanted to be as good as his father said he was.
• Lived and breathed football.
• He starts taking steroids ,which ruins a part of his life.
• He is the protagonist. He also attempted to kill himself.

MIKE JOHNSON (MICK'S DAD)

• Former NFL player.
• Hard on Mick to play football.
• He is hard on Mick because of his mistakes.
• Flunked out of college and didn't attend practice in the NFL.
• Pic from http://realhdwallpaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/NFL-Logo-Blue-Backgro...

MICK'S MOTHER

• A former gymnast at the University of Washington.
• She doesn't like how hard Mike pushes Mick.
• Doesn't watch Mick play football.
• She insists Mick follows his heart, not his dad's.
• USA gymnastics logo from http://foxysfitnessfashions.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/usga_logo.png

DREW CARNEY

• Mick's best friend.
• Plays football with Mick for a long time.
• Him and Mick tell each other how it will be in the long run.
• They play varsity football with each other.
• Photo from http://www.commentsyard.com/graphics/best-friends/best-friends24.gif

PETE VOLZ

• Pete Volz is definitely the antagonist.
• He works at Popeye's Gym and is Mick's weight trainer.
• He is the one who gives Mick the steroids and ruins a part of Mick's life.
• Pete was arrested for giving Mick steroids.
• Photo from http://taylorhooton.org/wp-content/themes/hooton-main-1/images/steroids.jpg

CONFLICT MICK VS HIS MIDDLE SCHOOL COACH

• Mick's middle school coach played college against his dad and didn't like him.
• The coach said he was just like his dad, which meant a lot of skill, but he will probably throw it away.
• The coach thought that Mick thought he was too good to practice.
• Mick starts going all out at every practice, but the coach still doesn't like him.
• Couldn't find a pic to depict this so I improvised.

CONFLICT MICK VS HIMSELF

• Mick has a strong urge to use steroids.
• So he uses them during the off season to stay bulk.
• The steroids have side effects so he takes a new kind of steroids called XTR.
• He starts taking those steroids and ruins his football career.

PLOT

• In Seattle Mick Johnson is the son of former NFL player Mike Johnson.
• Mick wants to be just like his dad until he figured out his dad's football career was ended thanks to misbehavior.
• Pete Vols, a trainer at Popeye's Gym, convinced Mick to take steroids.
• When Mick becomes starting running back he wants to keep it that way so he takes steroids to stay strong.
• The first kind of steroids have side effects so he starts to use a different kind.

PLOT

• Mick's friends find the steroids.
• Mick runs a touchdown and wins the title.
• Mick and his friends go to the beach.
• Mick's friends tell him the steroids have changed him and are all kinds of bad.
• Mick pulls out a gun and tries to shoot himself but he missed and took off a piece of scalp.

PLOT

• Mick survives, goes to the hospital, and reports Pete for giving him steroids.
• Pete is arrested.
• Mick stays in a facility for a months that helps him recover and that helps his mentality.