I kind of feel like this book is in part Applegate’s attempt to blow that dynamic wide open, to explicitly acknowledge and deal with it and say, “Look guys, I know that it sucks that Cassie keeps raising valid points of order when all you want to read about is how the Animorphs are fighting baddies with their animal powers.

I know it’s easy to minimize Cassie her compassion and conscience always seem like downers when all you want to do is SMASH STUFF with your elephant/gorilla morph. The Departure is her big crisis, her supposed breaking point. So parents, make sure you talk to your kids about Yeerk sex before they read about it in books, OK?Ĭassie has had crises of conscience before. Oh, and Applegate just casually drops in a crash course on Yeerk reproduction in the middle of this conversation. The Andalties are not about co-existing with the Yeerks, and a lot of what Karen says about them is spot on.

And while I’d argue that what the Yeerks do is evil, Controller!Karen basically shows us that a Yeerk can acknowledge the harm it does.īut you can just imagine that if some poor Andalite scientist had a brain wave and invented a way for Yeerks to inhabit clone bodies or robot bodies or something, then Andalite high command would shut that down immediately. The whole idea here is that in war it’s so easy to see the other side as evil and monstruous. She makes the Yeerk perspective sympathetic even though she doesn’t excuse their behaviour. In this way, Applegate creates a narrative far more nuanced than you might see in some adult literature about war. Karen’s apology for Yeerk parasitism, and the way she talks about how Andalites meddle and make war, is a healthy criticism of the “good guys” in this series. Aside from the brief time that Jake played host to a Yeerk, we’ve had no exposure to the Yeerk mentality. Until now, we’ve basically received a one-sided view of this story. The whole character of Karen adds a huge dimension to the series. Cassie and Controller!Karen basically stake out the human verus Yeerk sides of the debate. She puts on a brave face, but I know that secretly, deep down inside, she was quaking.)Īs before, I have to give Applegate credit for the intense philosophical discussions she puts into kids’ literature. (If you know Cassie, you know how terrible that last chapter must have been. Take a look at these totally not-at-all-made-up chapter titles to get an idea of how terrible Cassie’s day was:Ĭhapter 2: Cassie Has the Most Awkward Exit Interview EverĬhapter 5: Cassie and Friend Nearly Get Eaten by the LeopardĬhapter 6: Cassie and Friend Debate Moral Philosophies While Starving to Death in the ForestĬhapter 7: Cassie Allows Herself to be Infested by a YeerkĬhapter 8: Cassie Agrees to be Trapped in Caterpillar Morph ForeverĬhapter 9: Cassie Has to Explain Everything to Her Parents by Pretending to be a Minor Celebrity You might as well subtitle this book Cassie Has the Worst Day Ever.

The Departure by K.A. Applegate