Ovid's got a lot on his mind, and he pours it all into the pages of a notebook. Inspired by his namesake, he wryly records his classmates' dramas as modern-day Roman mythology. There's Sophie and Caleb, the Psyche and Cupid of cyber-couples; poetic Paula, who pursues filmmaker Franny like Apollo chasing Daphne; and graphic-novelist Duwayne, a Proserpina shuttling between divorced parents. Meanwhile, Ovid hides his own Olympian struggles and a disturbing secret.

Spoiler - contains profanity, graphic sexual situations, and drug use.

Narrated by James Franco (yes, that one!) and David Franco. It's a family affair of sister writer and brother narrators. Inspired after reading Metamorphosis on the suggestion of a teacher, Ovid observes all the transformations he and his classmates are going through, and the stories hidden behind their facades. Ovid’s family has been particularly affected by his sister’s meth addiction and disappearance, and he’s feeling hemmed in by his parents’ raised expectations for his own life. James voices Ovid and his frustrations, while David voices the observer.

Metamorphosis: Junior Year by Betsy Franco is an interesting graphic novel that contains the thoughts and illustrations of a young man named Ovid. This book is more of a journal that contains Ovid's personal thoughts about his family and friends. He began writing in this journal to escape from the hovering and controlling parents he has and the sadness he feels for his sister. The book is compared to a Greek mythology poetry book written a long time ago by another man named Ovid. In the original poetry novel he tells the stories of different gods and goddess just like Ovid does in the current book only instead of gods and goddess, Ovid uses his friends. This story has no real ending because nothing gets resolved.

A teacher could use this book to introduce mythology to children. Since many of the characters are compared to gods and goddess, it is easy to almost take this novel as a modern day Greek novel. I would also introduce different types of poetry that come along with this novel. The poetry in this novel does not rhyme, so it could show children that not everything has to rhyme. I also would use this to introduce graphic novels and show the students that graphic novels are not just pictures. This could enlighten students to more variety of books that could strike their interest.

I personally thought this book was more graphic than I expected. Some parts just had too many cuss words for my taste. It was also a very big eye opener for me. I did not know teenagers even struggled such difficult experiences and bad decisions. Overall this book was very interesting, but I do not think that I would use this in my own classroom due to the explicit context. Metamorphosis may have been too extreme, but I did enjoy the comparisons to the Greek gods and the stories. This story was one with great deeper meaning and a good touch of art work. If you can get past the cussing and the harsh situations, I do recommend this book. ( )

Metamorphosis is a graphic novel, by Betsy Franco, that focuses on a teenager named Ovid. Although he appears to be a normal high school junior, he is far from it. His school life isn't going so good. In fact, he's failing all of his classes except those in which he gets the opportunity to express himself in -art and science. He expresses himself in his notebook journal where he draws pictures and write poetry about his personal situations as well as his friends' problems and hardships.

This book shows that you never know the things that a child may be facing. I consider this a must read for parents and teachers. This novel was definitely an eye opener. ( )

Metamorphoses:Junior year by Betsy Franco, is an illustrated book about a young boy's collection of drawings and poems. The main focus of the story is Ovid, one of the protagonist's and narrator of the story. Ovid is a high school student struggling to fit in and not at school but at home with his own parents. Because Ovid's sister, Thena, has set out of on a path of destruction, Ovid's parents tries to do everything in their power to keep the same from happening to him. He, much like Thena, has an artistic gift. He can draw, paint, and write poetry really well. Through his work he captures moments in life that are important to him at the time. He introduces us to his friends and school mates and through this we learn that Ovid is not the only one with heavy problems.

The contents of the text are really mature. This book would definitely have to be taught to an older group of high school students. One underlying lesson in the book however, is a history lesson. The text makes many references to Greek mythology with the book in particular being a spin off of Metamorphoses the play; a story of Ovid. The book could be used to teach about the Gods and Goddesses and possibly lessons on morality. Other issues in the book address serious problems that trouble teens everyday. The lessons could be used as example of how to and how not to handle troublesome situations.

Personally I thought the book was a bit redundant and I didn't enjoy it much. It seem as if his inner thoughts were taking over the entire plot and at some point as a reader, I was ready for him to just get things off his chest already. The only thing I did enjoy were the poems Ovid wrote to address the issues his friends were dealing with. The way they were written made things interesting because the author didn't just bluntly reveal the problems. She masked them behind the poetry so you got a chance to enjoy the poems while discovering at the same time just what was troubling Ovid's peers. The drawings in the book were good also because although they were hard to understand, they did remind one of someone with a troubled mind. They were very exaggerated and elaborate. ( )