Chris Grine

Animorphs: The Graphic Novel – The Message continues Michael Grant and Chris Gine’s adaptation of K.A. Applegate’s phenomenal YA series that took the late ’90s by storm. Like the books themselves, the fourth book primarily follows the perspective of Cassie. Having established the Andalite/Yeerk war in the first book, this one features the humans – Rachel, Jakes, Tobias, Cassie, and Marco – learning more about the Andalites and their perspective on the war. Cassie and Tobias begin show more having dreams featuring a call for help coming from the ocean. The discovery of a piece of Andalite ship wreckage on a beach leads the Animorphs to the realization that there might be an Andalite ship crashed under the waves. The team copies the DNA of some dolphins to begin their exploration, leading Cassie to think about the ethics of copying animals without their consent. This ethical quandary reflects Cassie’s connection to nature while also leading to a consideration of how the Animorphs use alien technology. Their experience as dolphins also leads the team to understand more about how animals interact on our planet. The story also introduces Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, or “Ax,” the brother of Prince Elfangor, the Andalite who gave the Animorphs their powers. Through him, they learn more about the Andalites and the war itself. Like the preceding volumes, Gine does a phenomenal job portraying the body horror elements of the Animorphs’ abilities while using colors to differentiate between characters’ thought-speak and perspectives such as the whale’s mental images. As with its predecessors, this graphic novel is a great way for long-time fans of the series to revisit it or introduce it to their own children. show less

Really enjoyed this graphic novel -- liked Willow's excellent personality, her band of friends, the creepy/cool paranormal aspects and the art. Willow's hearing loss and signing add a lot to the story, and the weird unfolding events are very intriguing. I also really liked that while there was mild bullying at the beginning of the book, for the most part the kids just accept each other and get along. Not a lot of friendship drama, which is refreshing in a book for this age group.

Advanced show more reader's copy provided by Oni Press. show less

The characters still look uncanny valley and the transformations can be gruesome, but the angst is IMMACULATE.

Tobias (who cannot morph back to human) is tortured by the same depressive voice some humans deal with; a constantly nagging voice that discredits his humanity. Get this, he has a bird brain *badum tsk* I've seen few books really tackle or mention this at all for young readers. But Tobias' identity struggle is done effectively as well as it's conclusion.

I know everyone bags on show more Marco, but I get why he has to be the voice of reason. Also, Rachel and Tobias' friendship is the highlight here. Very charming. I never had interest in this series before, but I think the graphic novel adaptions are doing a great job introducing this to a new audience. show less

I picked this book up at half price books out of pure curiosity. It ended up being a cute and somewhat bizarre middle grade graphic novel and I enjoyed it.

Chickenhare (yes, he is half chicken and half hare) and Abe (a turtle with a strange beard) are sold to an evil taxidermist named Klaus. Klaus is obsessed with strange animals and Chickenhare and Abe must escape before they are stuffed. They end up escaping with two other strange animals, Meg and Banjo, into a deep dark cave where they show more find that there are other dangers outside of Klaus that are just as deadly. Oh, and I should mention that Chickenhare is being haunted by the ghost of a goat...yes it all ties together eventually.

This is a well done but very bizarre graphic novel. The theme throughout is pretty morbid. Basically Klaus is a very emotionally damaged man who likes to snuggle with the dead animals he kills and stuffs...this man has serious mental issues.

It gets even weirder when Chickenhare finds the dead rotting body of the goat who has been haunting him. The goat, Buttons, decides to reinhabit his dead body and then for the vast portion of the story Chickenhare is dragging around a dead goat body.

All the above being said, despite the morbid oddness of this story I ended up liking it. I can honestly say I have never read anything like this book. It was well written and engaging...and just downright strange.

The illustration throughout is brightly colored, easy to follow, and very well done. However, I do have a bit of trouble figuring out what demographic this was written for. It’s targeted at a middle grade audience but I think it might be a bit too out there for most kids in that age group to really get it. That, and as I said, it’s pretty darn morbid.

Overall this was an entertaining and bizarre graphic novel. I ended up enjoying it and it’s very different from other middle grade fantasy graphic novels out there. I would recommend to fans of the Bones graphic novels by Jeff Smith or the Amulet graphic novels by Kazu Kibuishi. However, this graphic novel isn’t as good as either of those… That being said I will probably go ahead and read the next one in the series because it was well done and was strange enough to intrigue me. show less