| Animorphs | |
The cover of the first book in the series, The Invasion.[1] |
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| List of Animorphs books | |
| Author | K. A. Applegate |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science Fantasy Thriller |
| Publisher | Scholastic Publishing |
| Published | June 1996 - May 2001 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) Audiobook |
Animorphs is an English language science fiction series of young adult books written by K. A. Applegate and published by Scholastic.[2] Five humans, one of whom eventually becomes a hawk, and one alien obtain the ability to morph into any animal they touch; they name themselves "Animorphs", the name meaning "animal morphers".[3] Using their ability, they battle a secret alien infiltration of Earth. It is told in first person, with a different narrarator in every book. Applegate cycles through the six protagonists, telling their story of the secret war through each of their perspectives. By using this, she explores many of the dark aspects of the human condition. Horror, war, dehumanization, sanity, morality, innocence, leadership, and growing up are core motifs of the series.
From June 1996 to May 2001, the series consisted of 54 books and includes 10 companion books; 8 of which fit into the series' continuity (the Animorphs Chronicles and Megamorphs books) and two are gamebooks that do not fit in the continuity (the Alternamorphs books). The characters grow up throughout the series, struggling to cope with the horrors of war, the acts which they commit, and the compromises and retreats they must make to win the war (and sometimes, even just to survive). The series allows the reader to observe the human condition as these six "normal" children are forced by their new, deadly circumstances to face the darkest, and also the brightest, parts of themselves. The series was originally conceived as a three-part series called The Changelings, in which Jake is named Matt, and his little brother Joseph takes the place of Cassie.
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In an interview with Publishers Weekly, Applegate talked about the source of inspiration for the "Animorphs" series: "I grew up loving animals and lived with the usual suburban menagerie of dogs, cats and gerbils," she said, "I really wanted to find a way to get kids into the heads of various species and decided that a science-fiction premise was the way to do this." Originally, the series was named "The Changelings".[4] Applegate tried to accurately depict the various animals, and did research such as visiting "a raptor center where they rehabilitate injured birds".[5] "When Tobias becomes a hawk, I want the reader to see the world as a hawk might see it - to soar on the warm breezes and hurtle toward the ground to make a kill," she said.[5]
To develop the characters for Animorphs, K. A. Applegate would go through teenage magazines such as YM and Seventeen (both of which are referenced in the books when describing Rachel), cutting out pictures and piecing them together to get an idea of what sort of kids the Animorphs would look like. K. A. Applegate has stated in an interview online [1] that many of the names for her alien creatures, races, and locations are actually scrambled names of local street signs or companies that she happens to notice. For instance, the word nothlit was derived from the hotel name Hilton. According to the Anibase, K. A. Applegate did not make up the titles for the Animorphs books: it was up to the Scholastic editors to create the titles for the books based on the outlines provided by the author, having to select a word that not only fit the book's storyline, but sounded good with the characteristic "The" preface. One of the author's favorite books, The Lord of the Rings, lent several words and images to Animorphs: the elvish word for Orc, "yrch", became Yeerk; the flaming red Eye of Sauron inspired the Crayak, and Ax's middle name, "Esgarrouth", is the name of a town in the book. The Human name of Ax's Brother, Elfangor, is Al Fangor and his last name is in reference to the Fangor region or Fangorn Forest. Also there was a minor reference to Gondor, in the form of a fictional company named "Gondor Industries" in the 14th book. (It may also be significant that Visser Three's host is named Alloran, a rough homonym of Gandalf's Valinorean name "Olórin", and that one of the minor alien races is called "the Five", which is also a term used in The Lord of the Rings for the Istarii.)
Surprisingly, given its target audience of young teenage readers, Animorphs effectively and realistically deals with familiar themes pertaining to war. These themes include the horror of war but also its necessity in order to defend people's lives and freedom; the loss of innocence and the different effects of war on the mind and spirit; the moral and mental instabilities which must be adopted in times of war, such as "justified" and "impersonal" murder, "acceptable" losses, and dehumanization of both yourself and your enemy. Other themes include the universality of good and evil; the philosophy of complete nonviolence versus that of the just war; the absolute harshness, wildness, and complexity of nature as a living system; the nature of leadership; coping with loss and hardship; the difficulties of finding one's own identity and one's own place in the universe; adaptation, and alienation.
The names given here are the ones used throughout the majority of the series; in the last few books, some character's full names are revealed, and some change rank within their military hierarchy, hence changing name.
Each book in the series revolved around a given event during the war waged between the Animorphs and the invading Yeerks, the first book detailing how the Animorphs came to have their power. Within a year and a half after the first book was published, the series had close to ten million copies in print, with Scholastic claiming a "stronger initial sell-in," than any of its other series up to that time.[6] The series debut was proceeded by a large marketing campaign which included posters on buildings, giveaway items in bookstores, and ads on Nickelodeon TV.[6]
In the United States, the books were most popular as A5-sized paperback volumes, and were usually between 150 and 200 pages long, divided into just under thirty chapters.
The front covers featured images of the narrating Animorph undergoing the various stages of one of the morphs from the story, with a few exceptions (noted in each book's article). Behind the morphing character were images of clouds and skies, which became more colorful and elaborate as the series progressed. All the covers of the regular series books had a small cutout over part of the full morph's anatomy, revealing a computer-generated illustration on the first page, which was printed on glossy paper. The illustration shared the image of the full morph with the front cover, but placed within an environment from the story. The book spines repeated the narrating character's face from the front cover, and the spine color changed with every new episode, resulting in a very colorful collection when viewed from any angle. A small excerpt from one of the book's chapters was printed on the inside of every front cover.
As of the eighth book, The Alien, the Animorphs logo, the author's name, and the book's title were printed in glossy, metallic-look ink, rather than the flat colors that had been used for the first seven books. In addition, the author's name and book title were surrounded by solid black rectangles. The majority of the books in the series were printed only in "metallic-ink editions". All further reprintings of the first seven books had this treatment applied to them as well.
The books in the series' final arc, beginning with the 45th book, The Revelation had yet another treatment applied to the cover, a variation on the new metallic style; the change affected only the main 'Animorphs' logo: instead of consisting of white letters superimposed on a metallic, colored background, the last ten books featured a logo with colored letters over a dark grey background, in contrast with the white logo background from the series' "opening arc". The final book, #54 The Beginning had a unique cover style, with the logo consisting of a glowing outline.
Every book featured an introduction to the series on the back cover, in the voice of one of the Animorphs.
We can't tell you who we are. Or where we live. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. Really careful. So we don't trust anyone. Because if they find us... well, we just won't let them find us. The thing you should know is that everyone is in really big trouble. Yeah. Even you.
As of book 51, The Absolute, the introduction read as follows:
Here's the deal these days: They know exactly who we are. They know exactly where we live. We've got a few secrets left, and we're gonna use them. But just know that the end is coming. And we don't know how much longer we can do this. How much longer can we fight. What about you? Where will you be when it ends? Think about it. Think hard. Because the countdown has already begun...
In addition to this text, each book also carried an introduction, or teaser of sorts, to its own storyline.
Another interesting feature of the books was a flipbook composed of the bottom right-hand corners of all of the book's pages. A step of the cover morph was printed on each page, less than an inch tall, in black-and-white. When the pages were flipped from front to back, the narrating Animorph could be seen morphing into the animal.
The Animorphs series was printed in over twenty languages and other English-language markets, and the books in those countries sometimes had different designs, layouts, cover quotes, and even different cover morphs, as is the case for the fifth book, The Predator, whose UK edition showed Marco morphing into a lobster, in contrast to the American edition's gorilla morph. Japanese-language covers were hand-drawn; The Invasion showed Jake morphing into his dog Homer, a morph that was featured on the cover of The Threat in the American editions. Gallimard Jeunesse is the French publisher and Tammi is the Finnish publisher.
Throughout the publication of the series, there was some dispute about the exact ages of the Animorphs at the time they received the ability to morph. However, with the help of various hints in the course of the series, many fans guessed their ages to be approximately 13-14 (with 13 being the more likely of the two) at the start. For example, at the beginning of the first book, The Invasion, Jake mentions having tried out for his junior high basketball team and not making the team; this puts Jake, Cassie, Marco, Rachel, and Tobias, at the very least, around the age of 11-14 as junior high (or middle school) in the United States is generally grade 6-8. However, as Marco describes them as "idiot teenagers with a death wish" in the first book, it's very likely that some or most of them are older than 12. This is also supported in book two, The Visitor, when Rachel looks at a photo "taken a couple of years ago" of her and Melissa Chapman, taken on Melissa's "twelfth birthday, or some birthday". Although Rachel cannot remember what birthday it was, this supports the idea that the Animorphs are 13 or 14.
The publication of book #53 offered a definite answer to the question of age. Jake says outright at the start of chapter 2 in #53 that he is 16, started the war when he was 13, and has been fighting the war for over three years. Marco also states in chapter 8 of book #54 that Jake is sixteen. The other characters' ages are never explicitly confirmed. Throughout the course of book #54, 2 or 3 more years passed. They are either 19 or 20 years old in the end, depending on how long they had been in space just before the series' conclusion.
Many of the novels from the #25-#52 range were written by ghostwriters. Typically, K. A. Applegate would write a detailed outline for each book, and a ghostwriter, usually one of Applegate's former editors or writing protégés, would spend a month or two writing the actual novel. After this, Applegate, and later her series editor, Tonya Alicia Martin, would edit the book to make it fit in with the series' tight continuity. Ghostwriters are credited for their help in the book's dedication page: "The author would like to thank [ghostwriter name] for his/her help in preparing this manuscript."
The only books fully written by Applegate herself after #26 The Attack are #32 The Separation, #53 The Answer, #54 The Beginning, and all of the Megamorphs and Chronicles books.
The following books in the series were ghostwritten:
Applegate originally intended to write every Animorphs book herself. However, due to many contributing factors - such as the birth of her son, and the difficulties involved in writing Everworld (which was originally intended to be mostly ghostwritten, like Applegate's third Scholastic series Remnants), she ended up having to have a large number of the books ghostwritten.
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