As of book five, I have officially read an Animorphs book from each main character’s POV, and I gotta say, I’m a Marco girlie. But I was always a big fan of the funny short guy (Max Casella in Newsies, I’ll love you forever).
In book 4, The Message, Cassie and Tobias begin receiving telepathic messages from an unknown creature in need. The group figures out it’s likely an Andalite that is seemingly stuck in their spaceship underwater, and they learn to morph into dolphins to save the alien. This is how they meet Ax, an Andalite who becomes a member of their team.
In book 5, the group tries to hijack a Yeerk spaceship to get Ax back to his home planet. They fail, but not before learning the identity of the Yeerk’s leader, a person very close to the group.
I called the big twist for book 5, but that’s just something one has to deal with when you’re 42 years old and reading a series written for ten year olds. i’M sO sMaRt! Despite that, I’m still enjoying my journey in the Animorphs series. Here are some highlights for me:
- The 90s references are SO funny, but so far the one that made me positively cackle was in book four when the kids visit an aquarium, where six dolphins are named after the characters in Friends. I dunno why that one hit me so hard, but I truly L-O-Led.
- How inventive the kids are about choosing their morphs. In book five, they’re running from the cops, and hide in a grocery store deli by animorphing into lobsters in the lobster tank. This was the most disgusting morph to date.
- How well Applegate weaves politics into the plot. In book five, the kids escape because the Yeerks leader wants to humiliate a subordinate. What a great way to open a conversation with kids about how optics plays into political manuevering.
I’m really glad I picked this year to do this reading challenge. Animorphs is both topical and great escapism.