Blam! Boom! Watch out for dracon beams! They will burn you badly. Watch out and always be on the look out.

The Pretender is science fiction book by K.A. Applegate. It has a hook so good you will be stuck on this entire series until you read them all. I love the Animorphs series. Anyone who likes aliens and scary stuff that will get you going and freaking out; this is the type of book for you.
The Pretender book is about a boy named Tobias. An Animorph is a person with the powers to morph into any animal they touch. Tobias is a red tailed hawk. Tobias got trapped as a red tailed hawk because he stayed in that morph for more than two hours.
He has some competition that is moving in on his territory and the food is getting scarce. Tobias has to live off road kill to survive as long as possible. The other hawk is getting stronger and Tobias is getting weaker. Will Tobias survive the harsh lack of food?
Tobias also has another problem. A long lost cousin wants to take him in. Since Tobias helped the freed Hork- Bajir, an eliminist gave him the power to morph and let him acquire his DNA from the past. Tobias would have to be in his human morph when he is meeting this strange woman. Is it a trap or does this women really want to take care of Tobias?
Tobias is faced with a tough decision. Should he choose to keep his hawk form or be Tobias? If Tobias stays in his human morph for more than two hours, he will be himself again. But if he does this, he will lose his ability to morph to any of the animals, DNA that he acquired. What will he do?

Written By: K.A. Applegate
Cover Illustration By: David B. Mattingly
Sponsored By: Scholastic Inc
Copyright date: 1998
Printed in: U.S.A.