Animorphs - did anyone read these?

[Thadlerian]

It's a 50-book science fiction series published sometime in the mid-90s. I happen to have read all of the books, but that was a long time ago, and I haven't really considered them.

I remember the first 12 or so books to be relatively good, but the series sort of declined after that. You got the feeling that the writer (K.A. Applegate) made conveniences with the plot to avoid ending the story too soon.

Anyone?

 

[optimism]

I absolutely read them. Not ALL of them--I stopped around 40. I intend to travel to a library sometime, read the whole series, and be done with it.
I had a dream about the dinosaurs Megamorphs three nights ago. No kidding. I was an Animorph. And let me just say, them actually managing to acquire dinosaurs was highly unrealistic. I couldn't get close to one without fearing for my hand. It's practically impossible.
...considering my beating my lover over the head with guilt for having gotten me into the Buffy TV show (where a main character is murdered in a tragic manner), perhaps it's a good thing Applegate didn't kill anyone.
...except she did, so I hear. But that's beside the point.

 

[Brys]

I read a few of them when I was about 10, and they were ok - nothing particularly special though, just entertaining easy reads, and not even the best childrens' novels about shapechanging either.

 

[Rane Longfox]

There were 50 of them??!!??

Wow. I never realised there were that many. I thought they were all pretty weak, to be honest, though I probably only read 10 or 15 of them. It says a lot about the care that was taken over all of them that there were so many in such a short time

 

[Teir]

I did read one or two, oh about 5...7 years or so back. I used to be hooked on the television show and stumbled across the books in the school library. I think i remember them entertaining me at the time...*shrug*

 

[Animaiden]

I loved this series when I was younger. I read up to 41, plus some of the misc other story branches (Andalite Chronicles was one I think). These books took up a lot of my younger years. I have the tv show on tape, and still read my favorites every once and a while. There were 53 books just to the main series. Also, one of the main characters does die, though I didn't read that book.
I thought that up to about book 25 the story was really good. It petered off after that, at least until I stopped reading them.

 

[They]

I really liked the animorphs books. I think Applegates ideas were very good, she should write some books oriented towards older audiences.

 

[Alia]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/163643/102-9350830-2020959

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica]A Letter to Animorphs Fans[/FONT]

by K.A. Applegate

Well, here it is at long last: the final chapter in the Animorphs story. It began in the summer of 1996. It ends in the summer of 2001. Five years, 54 regular titles, 4 Chronicles, 5 Megamorphs and 2 Alternamorphs. An amazing number of you have read all those books. I am deeply grateful.
I had a lot of fun writing these characters. I know it sounds pretentious to say that I'll miss them, but I will. It seems strange to think that I won't ever again write "My name is . . ." It makes me a little sad to say good-bye to Andalites, Hork-Bajir, Chee, Taxxons, and even Yeerks. It was fun sitting down every day at my computer to invent that strange universe.
There are a bunch of people to thank. (Hey, what is this, an Academy Awards speech?) First of all, Scholastic, in particular Jean Feiwel, Tonya Alicia Martin, and Craig Walker. Also the talented folks who created such great art for the series. And, of course, the people who never get mentioned but who are responsible for the crucial step from publisher to bookstore: the sales and marketing force.
Mostly, I want to thank you guys, the readers. You praised, you complained, you extolled, you demanded, you asked questions that sometimes I couldn't answer. You told your friends, you started Web sites, you sent letters and e-mails, and wrote fan fiction. You pointed out every error I made. You were thoughtful and critical and imaginative. You were loyal.
I want you all to know that it is my choice to end Animorphs. Much as I'll miss it, the time had come. Time to say good-bye, Jake. Good-bye, Cassie. You, too, Tobias and Marco and Ax. Good-bye, Rachel.
And now would be the time for me to say good-bye to you . . . but, I'm off to a new series called Remnants, and I'm hoping I'll see you over there, in that new universe. If not, thanks from the bottom of my heart for everything.
If you're coming along on the next trip, grab onto something because we're going to start off by blowing up the entire world. Then the real trouble will start.
You may now demorph.
Copyright 2001 by Katherine Applegate

 

[Alia]

Here are some quizzes for you guys.

http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/for_children/kid_lit_authors_a_-_k/ka_applegate.html

 

[xjaffaxcakesx]

I have only read one of these books and i really liked but i have not read any others

 

[Amber]

I read these when I was young. My dad reckoned she could write them at the rate of one a week, they were so short.

 

[visser one]

i know that this dosen't relate to the topic but, does anyone know applegates' e-mail address? I need to convince her to get the show back on the air!

 

[Thadlerian]

I thought that up to about book 25 the story was really good. It petered off after that, at least until I stopped reading them.

That's not very strange. According to Wikipedia, Applegate had various other people ghostwrite the second half of the series, providing general outlines for each book.

Imagine that. Having someone ghostwrite your own fictive universe
She could just have had the honesty to say: "I can't do this on my own, i need some help" or "could I postpone this until I get my stuff sorted out?".

 

[Creabots]

I read them, and I enjoyed them. I think I began when I was in Junior High. I haven't read all of them, though. I think I quit when I went to highschool. I'm considering finishing it the series though. I wonder how this compares to the authors other series; I forgot what it was called, though.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I read these when younger -- well, about the first twenty five or so, until about the age of fifteen or sixteen. I quite enjoyed the first ones but then they started getting really moralistic and the characters just got on my nerves after a while, especially Cassie. I know there were only five kids (and an Andalite!) taking on an unimaginable and incredibly important task, but sometimes they really just annoyed me. And then, spurred by another thread around this site about Animorphs, I searched the internet to fill in the gaps and find out what finally happened at the end. It was then that I found about the ghost writers, about which I was very surprised, I had no idea. And I also found out who died at the end (not my favourite character so it wasn't too bad). I don't think I could ever try to read the entire series, though. The earlier books are a very quick and moderately entertaining read, but the later ones just started to irritate me.

 

[Overread]

hmm - I think I read about 4 of the series - interesting, but they failed to hook me.
And to any that are interested, the CBBC showed a series (complete with all the cheap CGI) of the animorphs, I have no idea how honest to the stories it was - but I never new that there were 50 odd books!
(random fact - this thread died 8 days before my birthday - last year!)

 

[HoopyFrood]

I remember the CBBC series -- I wasn't very keen on it. The characters weren't much like I imagined from the books (especially Tobias and he was my favourite character). I can't really say much more about it because I really did avoid it like the plague, only catching small snippets here and there.

 

[Overread]

BBC used to be about the best at staying loyal to the source material when making productions = and there I will end the BBC/TV rant before I start

 

[HoopyFrood]

Well, the series I remember (if I am remembering correctly) was the one from America, made by Nickelodeon I think.

 

[Overread]

The BBC still showed it!