The Invasion (Animorphs)

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The Invasion
Jake morphing into a green anole.
Author	K. A. Applegate
Illustrator	Peter Bollinger
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Animorphs #1
Genre(s)	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Scholastic
Publication date	June 1996
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	192
ISBN	0-590-62977-8
Followed by	The Visitor

The Invasion, published in 1996, is the first book in the Animorphs series, written by K. A. Applegate. It is narrated by Jake.

[edit] Plot summary

The first-page illustration from The Invasion, showing Jake morphing a green anole in his locker.

Thirteen-year olds Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco, and Tobias are walking home through an abandoned construction site, when an alien spacecraft lands nearby. The alien, an Andalite named Prince Elfangor, explains that the Earth is being invaded by another race of aliens, called the Yeerks, a slug-like parasitic species who infest humans through their ear canals and take complete control of the human's body. Elfangor says that more Andalites will not come to Earth until it is too late, and Earth will already be completely taken over - so to combat the Yeerks, he gives the humans morphing technology, the power to become another creature through absorbing their DNA. Elfangor warns them to never stay beyond two hours in a morph, or they will be trapped in that form forever. The Yeerks, led by Elfangor's arch-rival, Visser Three, arrive and eliminate all traces of Elfangor and his ship before proceeding to attempt to catch and kill the teenagers. The group escapes, shaken but more or less unhurt.

The next morning, Tobias visits Jake and informs him that the previous night was not just a dream: the Yeerks are real, and the teens really can morph. The five of them spend the morning at Cassie's barn, practicing morphing simple creatures like cats, dogs, and horses. A police officer arrives and informs the group that last night some teenagers were sighted setting off fireworks in the abandoned construction site, and the five of them realize that the police officer is a Controller. Later that day, Jake's brother Tom expresses a similar interest in the teenagers at the construction site, and Marco realizes that Tom is a Controller too, much to Jake's anger. Tom invites the group to a meeting of a local community club called The Sharing, which the teens quickly determine is a front for the Yeerks to acquire new hosts. They also discover their assistant principal, and leader of The Sharing, Mr. Chapman, is also a human-Controller. The next day Jake morphs a green anole lizard to spy on Chapman, and discovers that there is an entrance to the Yeerk Pool - a humongous, underground control center where the Yeerks can feed and recuperate - in their school.

The teenagers, newly christened as the 'Animorphs' (Animal Morphers) by Marco, head to The Gardens, a large zoo/amusement park, in order to acquire some new morphs. That evening they decide to infiltrate the Yeerk Pool in order to rescue Tom, but find that Cassie has been kidnapped by the police-Controller. With no time to plan a strategy, the four remaining Animorphs - including Tobias, who has already morphed into a red-tailed hawk - head into the Yeerk Pool, and while they manage to rescue Cassie, they find themselves outnumbered and outgunned by Visser Three and his Yeerks. The Animorphs escape, but not without loss - they fail to rescue Tom, and Tobias does not escape the Yeerk Pool and demorph in time, becoming a red-tailed hawk nothlit. Jake promises to keep fighting the Yeerks until the Andalites arrive.

A UK-edition cover of The Invasion.

[edit] Morphs

[edit] TV adaptation

The Invasion was adapted as part of the Animorphs TV series, which aired on Nickelodeon and YTV between the fall of 1998 and the spring of 2000. The first book in the series was covered by the first three episodes, "My Name is Jake" (Parts 1 & 2)", and "The Underground". The TV episodes did not follow the books faithfully, altering many aspects of the characters' roles within the Animorphs, the events in the war against the Yeerks, and added plot lines that were not present in the books.

• In the TV adaptation, Homer, Jake's golden retriever, was with the kids at the video arcade, and ran away from them while they were playing video games. The Animorphs chased the dog into the construction site, finding him standing next to Tobias. There, they saw the lights from Prince Elfangor's landing fighter. In the book series, the (dogless) Animorphs-to-be were taking an ill-advised shortcut through the construction site on their way home; Tobias met up with them along the way and tagged along.

• Elfangor brings the Escafil device with him as he steps out of his stricken fighter, rather than having Jake retrieve it as happens in the book.

• Jake's first morphing is the correct animal, his golden retriever, "Homer". However, it occurs not in front of Tobias in Jake's room, but while he is hiding from the Controllers at the construction site, after witnessing the destruction of Elfangor's ship. Jake morphs Homer to escape unscathed.

• The Animorphs meet at Cassie's barn the day after their alien encounter, where they try out their morphing abilities. Tobias' first acquired morph is, incorrectly, the red-tailed hawk morph he would become trapped in (his first morphing was his pet cat, "Dude"). Rachel acquires and morphs the cat that she does not acquire until the second book in the series, her friend Melissa's pet "Fluffer McKitty". Marco morphs a brown rat, "Bitsy," an animal he never acquired in the books.

• In the TV series, both Marco and Jake morph into skinks, a type of lizard; in the book, only Jake morphs into a lizard, a green anole.

[edit] Trivia

• The cover of The Invasion is the only one to feature six intermediate morphing 'stages'. The other books feature covers with only three stages.
• The front cover quote is, "Some people never change. Some do..."
• The inside front cover quote is, "Jake is changing..."
• Jake uses thought speak while in human form early on in the book, but in all subsequent books none of the Animorphs are able to do so.