''The Message'', published in 1996 and written by

K. A. Applegate Katherine Alice Applegate (born October 9, 1956), known professionally as K. A. Applegate or Katherine Applegate, is an American young adult and children's fiction writer, best known as the author of the ''Animorphs'', '' Remnants'', ''Everworld ...

, is the fourth book in the '' Animorphs'' series. It is narrated by Cassie.

Plot summary

Cassie and

Tobias Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible, To ...

are having strange dreams about a presence in the

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

Jake Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach Animals * Jake (rescue dog), a s ...

sees a news item on television about debris with what looks like

Andalite ''The Andalite Chronicles'' is a science-fiction novel and is the first companion book to the ''Animorphs'' series, written by K. A. Applegate. Within the timeline of the series, this book takes place before the first book in the series, ''The ...

lettering on it that has washed up on the beach, and when he shows it to the others, Cassie and Tobias have such strong visions that they momentarily pass out. The Animorphs decide to investigate, and acquire dolphin morphs to do so. While out in the ocean, they find a

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

under attack by a group of

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

s. The Animorphs fight the sharks and drive them off, and

Marco Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

is nearly killed in the process. Marco is able to morph back to his human form, and the whale, grateful, saves him from drowning. The whale speaks to Cassie through song, telling her about a strange place of grass and trees under the ocean. Cassie has a feeling that this place is of Andalite origin, and the Animorphs wonder if Cassie's and Tobias's visions are a sort of distress call from an Andalite trapped in the ocean. They decide that the distress call is connected to the morphing ability, and Cassie and Tobias feel it the strongest because Cassie is the most in control of her morphing ability and Tobias is trapped in a morph. They also figure out that

Visser Three ''Animorphs'' is a science fantasy series of children's books written by Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, writing together under the name K. A. Applegate, and published by Scholastic. It is told in first person, with all ...

could be receiving the message and that the Yeerks are probably looking for the lost Andalite as well. The Andalite's location is too far from the shore for the Animorphs to reach under the two-hour morphing limit, so they (except Tobias) morph into

seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...

s and stow away on a large

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

(called the ''Newmar'', from

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...

, headed towards Singapore) that is heading in the right direction. They abandon ship and morph to dolphin when they are in range and discover the dome of an Andalite Dome Ship deep beneath the ocean's surface. They enter through an airlock and meet

Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill ''Animorphs'' is a science fantasy series of children's books written by Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, writing together under the name K. A. Applegate, and published by Scholastic. It is told in first person, with all ...

. Marco quickly gives him the nickname Ax, and the Animorphs tell him that he is the only survivor of the Andalite-Yeerk battle in Earth orbit and that they met and received the morphing power from Prince Elfangor. Ax reveals that Elfangor was, in fact, his older brother. Ax is also a youth, which is why he was left in the separated Dome ship during the battle. The meeting is brief however, as the Yeerks discover the sunken Dome ship and begin to drop depth charges. Ax had previously acquired a tiger shark, and he and the Animorphs escape. They are pursued by Visser Three in Mardrut morph; as they tire, Visser Three gains on them. The Animorphs decide to make a last stand, but are saved when Visser Three is attacked and chased off by a pod of sperm whales. The whales give the tired Animorphs a ride back to the shore. Ax pledges to fight with the Animorphs and adopts

as his

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

. He acquires Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco and mixes the DNA from each to create his own human morph. The Animorphs decide to hide him in the woods near Cassie's farm.

Morphs

TV adaptation

''The Message'' was adapted into an episode of the same name of the ''Animorphs'' TV series, which aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

and YTV. *The television episode has elements of the 23rd book, '' The Pretender'', namely the relationship between predator and prey, represented by Tobias and a rabbit he tries to hunt but is unable to, due to visions that throw him off his attack. *Visser Three morphs directly from human into a monster in order to terrorize a human-Controller, something impossible to do in the book series. *In the TV episode, the Animorphs find Ax in an abandoned factory area, rather than in the crashed dome ship on the seabottom, as in the books. *Cassie's first morph was a rabbit, and then a skunk.

Reviews

A review in School Library Journal calls the book "average series fare" with "stock characters", although the reviewer did praise the descriptions of animals and called Cassie's personal struggles realistic.

Re-release

Scholastic re-released ''The Message'' with a new lenticular cover in September 2011.

References

External links

Official page
at Scholastic.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Message Animorphs books 1996 science fiction novels 1996 American novels Underwater novels