The Message, published in October 1996 and written by K.A. Applegate, is the fourth book in the Animorphs series. It is the first book narrated by Cassie.
| This article is written from a Real World point of view. |
Official Description
It all started with the dreams. But Cassie didn't pay much attention to them. She and her friends had all been having weird dreams ever since they'd first learned to morph. Maybe it was just some crazy side effect.
Then Cassie discovered that she and Tobias had been having the exact same dreams. Dreams about the ocean. And a strange feeling that someone is calling to them. Calling for help. Cassie, Tobias, Jake, Rachel, and Marco have to figure out if the dreams are a message -- or a trap. And if it is a trap, it could mean the end -- for everyone...
Plot Summary
Cassie is out one night in her barn
to figure out who or what has been stealing birds.
She acquires and morphs a squirrel and goes through dealing with its instincts. Just then, Tobias flies in. Cassie can barely hold on from the squirrel's mind, and she runs. Tobias spots her and she freezes. Knowing she couldn't keep this up, Cassie jumps into the air and lands on a wooden beam.
Suddenly, Cassie sees a new movement: a fox. She finally gains control of the squirrel mind.
The next day after school, the Animorphs meet at Rachel's house, where Jake shows them a segment from a news report that he taped last night. It was a short story of an old guy holding a jagged piece of metal that had washed up on the beach from a recent storm, and on the piece of metal was something that looked like letters. He explains that on the night Elfangor landed, when he went inside the ship to get the blue morphing cube, he saw writing, and the letters on the jagged piece of metal are the same as the writing that was in Elfangor's ship, which meant that what washed up on the beach was part of an Andalite ship.
Suddenly, Cassie falls back. She is in the ocean and she hears a voice calling for help.
head for the water
morph into trouts
go to The Gardens
dolphins
a river which leads out to sea
the dolphin's mind is like a child mind, it just wants to play
the dophin's mind and instincts had already taken over them
attacked by sharks
one of the sharks bites Marco's tail
he demorphs
whale
The next day, Cassie heads over to Marco's apartment. When he answers the door, he explains he's spending the day with his dad, but she just wants to talk with for a minute. Marco steps outside and Cassie talks about what happened yesterday, the mission was her idea, and he could have been killed, but Marco doesn't blame her, this whole thing has been dangerous from the start. Cassie gets it but it was different because it was someone else's idea, Marco thinks its because she doesn't like taking responsibility, but Cassie says she doesn't want he friends to get killed.
seagulls
ride a cargo ship
They wake up, dazed and confused
it is an Andalite
Marco thinks its Visser Three. Suddenly, the Andalite's tail blade
the Andalite was called Prince Elfangor. The Andalite is thown into shock
he then asks who killed Elfangor, and Marco says that
Elfangor was his older brother
this Andalite is just a kid, like they are
the Animorphs introduce themselves, and the young Andalite inroduces himself as Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, but Marco gives him the nickname "Ax" for short.
Ax gives the Animorphs a tour of the dome
he explains that the Yeerks will make Earth much like their homeworld
depth charges
fortunately, Ax has acquired a sea morph
they escape, but the morph Ax acquired was a shark
the dome is destroyed
Taxxons, but everyone's morphs easily takes care of them
Cassie heads for the surface to breath and look around, the two surface ships were still there and closing in, but the Blade ship had dissappered. Suddenly, they hear a loud sound that went WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP. Cassie fires off some echolocation clicks, and says that its something the size of a whale, but isn't moving like one. She heads for the surface again to breath and look back, she sees something with dark red skin and hundreds of little thrashing 'fish tails' hump above the water. She describes it to Ax, and he says its an oceaniac creature from one of the Andalite moons called a Mardrut
they all know that its acutually Visser Three in morph
Cassie calls for help
not to go down without a fight
they all charge at the Visser when suddenly, many whales come
driving Visser Three away
the same humpback whale from before carries them back
Ax acquries Cassie's DNA, then Marco's, then Rachel, and finally Jake. He morphs into a male human which he created from a combination of the DNA of the four Animorphs.
A few days later, after recovering and making sure Ax was safe in the far fields of Cassie's farm, Cassie flies out in her seagull morph to The Gardens and lands near the dolphin tank and demorphs. She climbs into the tank and she morphs dolphin, which gets the attention of the dolphins. She felt that she wanted to show them what she did and wanted permission to become one of them. One dolphin nudges Cassie, it was asking her to play and dance with them, which she does.
The first page illustration of The Message featruing Cassie swimming in the ocean in her dolphin morph.
Appearing
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Ax (First Appearance)
Villains:
- Visser Three
- Various Hork-Bajir, Taxxon and Human-Controllers
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth
- Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic
- The Gardens
- Undersea dome from GalaxyTree (First Appearance)
Items:
- Dome ship (First Appearance)
Contributions to the Series' Story Arc
- Ax is introduced.
Morphs
| Morpher | Morphs acquired | Morphs used |
|---|---|---|
| Jake | Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull | Trout, Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull |
| Rachel | Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull | Trout, Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull |
| Cassie | Squirrel, Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull | Squirrel, Trout, Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull |
| Marco | Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull | Trout, Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull |
| Ax | Tiger Shark, Human (Cassie, Marco, Rachel, Jake's DNA) | Tiger Shark, Human (made from a mix of Cassie, Marco, Rachel, and Jake's DNA) |
| Visser Three | -- | Mardrut |
Trivia
- The cover quote is, "Sometimes you have to change a little more than your mind...."
- The inside front cover quote is, "Cassie's acting a little fishy...."
- In later books, its revealed that the species of shark Ax had acquired in this book was a Tiger shark.
- The six dolphins from The Gardens are named after the main characters on the TV Show Friends.
- It's revealed that morphing also allows its user to combine DNA of different individuals.
Taken from http://www.scholastic.com/animorphs/books/animorphography/bk04.htm