Status Report

Amazon recently updated their product pages by posting covers for the new Animorphs books that are coming out May 2011. These covers have some slight new updates and alterations from what we have seen in the past, and I have gone ahead and posted the previous versions with these news ones in side to side comparisons. Go ahead and click them for a larger view:

From what I see so far: In #1, the border around the morphing box is gone to match the ‘glow’ that you see in #2. Also, both the cover model and the animal now seem to have a different pose. Whether this is still the same cover model from the previous version, still remains to be seen.

For #2, the most notable change is with the background. This is a good improvement, in my opinion, as everything blends a bit better with the DNA fingerprint/fur combo.

I have no idea which one is currently the final version of either book, and we likely won’t know this until we start seeing more advertisements from Scholastic promoting these books. The books are still 6 months away, so there is still plenty of wiggle room left if Scholastic wants to make any more future alterations. We’ll keep you posted if we find any more.

UPDATE: A quick look at the Scholastic Librarian Catalog for Animorphs #1 now proves that the Amazon cover was indeed the correct version. These new covers are definitely replacements for the previous versions we have seen.

Remember when we posted the new lenticular cover for Animorphs #1 a few weeks ago? Well, I went back to the Ute Körner Literary Agent (our original source) to perform a little google-fu on there server, and I ended up with a nice little surprise! I found a file which led me to the rights section on Scholastic, which then led me to a PDF, giving us an exclusive look at the lenticular cover for Animorphs #2! It was posted along in combination with the cover for Animorphs #1. And as you can see from the pictures below, I went ahead and cropped it out of that for you guys as well.

Based on what we’re seeing here, it looks like Animorphs #2 is following the same style as the first cover. Currently we are only seeing Rachel in mid-morph, but as previously mentioned with #1, you won’t see the full effects of these lenticular covers until you actually hold one in your hand. The animation is supposed to provide a transition from human to animal when you tilt them from side to side.

Also, it looks like the animal/tech skin layout is staying. Based on the covers for #1 & #2, it will likely change to whatever skin/fur/scales the featured animal on the cover has. This will hopefully be good news for those that weren’t fans of the first cover. It also looks like the animal choices for the covers are being taken directly from the first print of the series (ie. #1: Lizard, #2: Cat, etc, etc). So expect the same from the rest of the future reprints, with the exception of Megamorphs and Chronicles.

Animorphs #1 & #2 are set to be out together next year on May 1st, 2011, and the schedule for the following books are already planned for the next 2 years. Here they are:

Animorphs #03: The Encounter – July 2011
Animorphs #04: The Message – October 2011
Animorphs #05: The Predator – January 2012
Animorphs #06: The Capture – April 2012

Anyway, that’s all for now. The new cover has been updated in the pre-order page as well (on your right). Be sure to follow us on Facebook & Twitter to stay updated for future posts. We’ll let you know if anything else comes up. Until next time!

Looks like the staff over at Scholastic are just as excited as us for the upcoming reprint of the series. A number of staff members created a group costume that mimicked the step-by-step morphing process for the new cover!

I really love this! Great group effort! You can see the original Scholastic Halloween Blog Post for more pictures. If any fans have Animorphs Halloween pics for this year too, then feel free to to pass them along to us as well! (You can see the ones from last year here and here.)

Thanks to an impressive effort by Eva, we now have fan-made English translations for the entire Animorphs #1 German audio book! This ‘book’ is actually done in a manner of a radio play, supporting a full cast, with sound effects and music.

I was really lucky to have been able to get a hold of this rare copy many years ago, and I’m so happy that I can finally understand it, and now (more importantly) share it with the rest of you!

To start listening, simply go here (or, for future reference, Database > Merchandise > Audiobooks). Simply click on one of the chapters to begin streaming and follow along with these awesome fan-made translations.

Again, a major thanks to Eva for putting in such an impressive amount of time and effort into this! We seriously appreciate it!