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The Worst Bestsellers

Episode 52 – Animorphs #1

The Worst Bestsellers

Worst Bestsellers

Comedy, Arts, Books

4.5609 Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2016

⏱️ 90 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Animorphs #1 by K. A. Applegate

Kait, Renata, and their guest Priscilla (@Priscellie) read Animorphs #1: The Invasion by K. A. Applegate. As the first entry in our Flashback Summer, we revisited our favorite teens who can turn into animals, and also the one teen who is a bird. Renata and Priscilla reminisced fondly about reading the series as youths, while Kait found the entire premise of human children turning into animals to fight aliens to be questionable, for some reason. What better way to spend the 4th of July than by turning into a bald eagle and celebrating your independence from our Yeerk oppressors? (N/B.: if you are not from the USA, you may turn into a different bird of your choice.)

Readers advisory: Here.

Footnotes: The Toast: The Animorphs

Scientific Questions About Animorphs

Scholastic To Give Animorphs New Life

K. A. Applegate’s Reddit AMA

Animorphs on TV Tropes

The Time Renata Met Katherine Applegate

Candy pairing:  Kait says Raven’s Revenge, Priscilla says gluten-free churros, Renata says Cinnabon.

Coming up next: Baby-Sitters Club #56: Keep Out, Claudia! by Ann M. Martin.

* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to the worst bestsellers, where we read about Renata's childhood so you don't have to.

0:15.5

I'm Kate. And I'm Renata. And for this episode, we read Animorph's Number One.

0:20.7

Joining us to discuss this pseudo-educational sci-fi soap opera is fantasy map cartographer,

0:27.3

aspiring filmmaker, and founding member of the Nice Is Neat fan club, Priscilla Spencer.

0:32.8

Hi, Priscilla. Hello. Thanks for joining us.

0:36.5

I'm so happy to talk to you about these, well, this book, but all

0:42.5

54 of these books, secretly. Secretly. Reading around like 29. You know what? I did too, but then

0:51.2

when I was in the Peace Corps, I got bootleg copies of all of them, and I had

0:55.6

like a lot of free time. So I finished out the series at that stage of my life. And I have so

1:02.4

much respect for you right now. It got really dark at the end. I heard from Nicole. I mean,

1:09.7

the beginning is moderately dark, but these books are intense.

1:15.8

But before we jump that to the last book, I guess we'll start at the beginning.

1:21.9

Yes.

1:22.9

All of the tropes to prepare us for various other types of horror later in life.

1:27.7

Yeah. Body horror, it horror later in life. Yeah.

1:29.1

Body horror, it starts here, folks.

1:31.5

You guys read these growing up.

1:33.6

I did not.

1:35.9

So what, I mean, what about them?

1:40.3

Well, let's back up a little bit.

1:41.8

So part of the reason why we're doing this,

1:50.5

the Animorph's book is that for the next couple of weeks, the next couple episodes, I guess,

...

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