The Proposal is the thirty-fifth book in the Animorphs series, authored by K.A. Applegate. It is known to have been ghostwritten by Jeffrey Zuehlke. It is narrated by Marco.
Official description
Marco already knows he has a few problems: the constant battle with the Yeerks; finding out his mother was infested...and is now Visser One. The leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth. But things are about to get even weirder. Marco's father is thinking of getting married again.
Meanwhile, the Animorphs and Ax have other things to worry about. It seems the Yeerks are trying harder than ever to get people into The Sharing. Now the kids have to find a way to slow down recruitment. But Marco's personal stress is causing him to morph into creatures that don't exist. Creatures the Yeerks are sure to notice...and attack...
Plot Summary
Marco's mother, the host to Visser One, is revealed to have survived the events of The Reunion. Marco's father, still believing her death from the "boating accident" several years earlier, marries Nora, Marco's math teacher. The stress from his father's actions cause Marco's morphs to go haywire, the results from his morphs are (in order of appearance): an osprey crossed with a lobster, a trout with the arms of a gorilla, a wolf spider crossed with a skunk, (A "Skider" or "Spunk" as Marco called it), and finally a poodle and a polar bear (a Poo-Bear as Marco called it). The Yeerks try to use a popular TV Icon named William Roger Tennant to try and persuade people to join The Sharing, but the Animorphs expose him on national TV.
Contributions to the Series' Story Arc
- Marco's father marries Nora. The stress from this causes Marco to lose control over his morphing - turning into mixtures of the animals he has acquired.
Morphs
Morpher | Morphs acquired | Morphs used |
---|---|---|
Jake | Squirrel, Cockatiel | Squirrel, Cockatiel, Tiger, Seagull, Cockroach, Flea, Fly, |
Rachel | Squirrel, Cockatiel | Squirrel, Cockatiel, Grizzly bear, Seagull, Cockroach, Flea, Fly, |
Cassie | Cockatiel | Seagull, Squirrel, Cockatiel, Wolf, Cockroach, Flea, Fly |
Marco | Squirrel, Cockatiel, Poodle | Osprey/Lobster, Squirrel, Cockatiel, Gorilla/Trout, Gorilla, Osprey, Wolf,Fly, Cockroach, Wolf Spider/Skunk, Poodle, Poodle/Polar bear |
Tobias | -- | Seagull, Cockroach, Flea, Human (Main) |
Ax | Squirrel, Cockatiel | Squirrel, Cockatiel, Seagull, Cockroach, Human (Main),Fly |
Trivia
- The front cover quote is, "What's on your mind...?"
- The inside front cover quote is, "Man's best friend? Not this man...."
- ANIBASE: Orson Watch: The stepback of this book is just chock full of hidden images! Check out the monitors behind Tennant: the images are made up of cover art from other books David has done, pictures of his family, and of course, there's even one of Orson!
- This is the only book in the series that leads off directly into a special edition to resolve a cliffhanger. Read the Visser Chronicles to see what happens next.
- ANIBASE: A lot of Animorphs fans have asked K.A. Applegate why the Animorphs never mix morphs and she finally adresses the issue in this book. She says:
"Well, you're assuming that melding animals would create something superior. Ain't necessarily so. Evolution is the process of adaptation. Each species is adapted to survive within a particular environment, a particular niche. The process takes a long time, billions of years and you can't just come along and play mix and match, plugging Legos into Lincoln Logs and expect to come up with something that works. How do you join up the intestinal tracts of a polar bear and a shark, for example? (Very carefully.) And if you could meld bear and shark, where would they live? What would they eat? And wouldn't the other animals laugh at them?"
Gallery
Taken from http://www.scholastic.com/animorphs/books/animorphography/bk35.htm