A very exciting installment imbued with meaning. ( )

Nice balance between action-packed and heart-tugging. Some parts still made me roll my eyes, though. Warning for MAJOR SPOILERS!

The Yeerks have finally figured out that the Animorph team are really humans. They're testing mass numbers of human blood to search for animal DNA in it. Animorphs use some computer hacking to find out where the data is being stored, and break in using Hork-bajir morphs, to look in the computers, see if their identity has been discovered, and delete the information. While there they find data on someone they assumed was long dead- Tobias' mother. Of course their cover gets blown, and they fight to they break out without having managed to delete anything from the database. Knowing their families might now be at risk, one at a time they approach family members, tell all (or as much as they can), morph in front of parents/siblings to prove it, and escape to hide out with everyone in the Hork-bajir valley. Parents meet this revelation with varying degrees of shock and disbelief, but they actually get everyone out.

Almost. Jake doesn't make it in time- his parents finally got taken by the aliens. But Tobias goes back to find his mother. Who it turns out is blind, from having suffered a terrible accident years and years ago. One that left her so debilitated she couldn't raise her own child. There's a very strangely awkward scene where Tobias, Marco and Ax approach her in a convenience store in order to lay hands on her guide dog so Tobias can impersonate the dog and get into her house. To snoop out if she's really an alien controller. The bits about Ax trying to act like a troublemaking teenager in the store are rather hilarious. Tobias finally reveals his identity to his mother, gives her the power to morph so they can bust out in hawk mode when the aliens show up, there's a frantic confusing battle and they barely escape. Tobias' mother nearly dies when she's terribly injured as a hawk, but when she re-morphs as human, her sight is restored.

All kinds of angst in this book on Tobias' part. Desperate to know more about his mother, to have her remember him, to save her from the aliens even though it puts all of them at risk. Finally the adults in the Hork-bajir valley start playing a role- Marco's mother is relating all the things she knows from her time as Visser to the Hork-bajir leader, for example while Rachel's lawyer mom is helping them draft their own constitution. Seems like small things they are doing, though, when the kids are out fighting actual aliens for the sake of the world.

from the Dogear Diary ( )

Oh. Poor sweet baby. ( )

The Yeerks realize that the "Andalite bandits" are probably not aliens. The Animorphs go to move their families into hiding. Tobias learns the truth about his mother. ( )

A short comment for every book of the series until I get a chance to re-read them. All three of my sons and I loved this series and read every single book - I even bought every single book (most, but not all, used; some through school book sales). I'm excited to re-read them to see how the five main characters develop and to watch all the different transformations again.

The best books appeal to *readers* universally - not children versus adults. These may not be quite worthy of the adjective 'best' but they do have that crossover appeal. ( )