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Roid Rage

by Lesley Choyce

Young competitors in Canada began to become aware of steroids with Ben Johnson’s disqualification at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. And with home-run king Mark McGwire admitting last summer to using a performance-enhancing (but not illegal) drug to boost his strength, the subject of steroids is even more prominent in the mind of young athletes.

It’s in this context that Nova Scotia’s prolific Lesley Choyce has set his latest fiction. This short, fast-moving novel chronicles the exploits of Ray, a fast-improving young football player who’s embarked on a self-destructive steroid program, and his less-willing pal, Craig, who becomes concerned at the ill effects of the drugs on them both.

Choyce’s combination of snappy junior-jock dialogue and realistic game-action description will appeal to reluctant readers. Choyce also sets up a nice backdrop to the main action by depicting the kind of teen peer pressure that’s often a powerful impetus for young athletes to take steroids.

Although the self-sacrificing Craig’s noble attempts to save his buddy from hurting himself and everyone around him at times take on a heavily moralizing tone, that’s nothing new in the sports-fiction world, especially in YA books. And the heavy-handed stuff actually seems to work well here to underline the dangerous side effects of steroids – like skyrocketing blood pressure and excessive aggression on and off the playing field.

 

Reviewer: Paul Challen

Publisher: Harbour Publishing

DETAILS

Price: $6.95

Page Count: 112 pp

Format: Paper

ISBN: 1-55017-206-9

Released: May

Issue Date: 1999-8

Categories:

Age Range: ages 8–12