in the first twenty books or so, there is at least one "oh hey I'm just chilling at home with my family angsting about whatever the problem-of-the-day is" chapter.
I think these chapters define a big part of the quality that sets the first half of the series apart from the second half.
you may think that the series was just about fighting the Yeerks, but I disagree. That may have been the plot of each book, but it certainly was not the only part, and certainly not the part I responded to the most. Stories are about character. Ax was pretty well-developed, but I definitely agree that he could have afforded a couple of more "This is me and my family in my scoop" flashbacks and "Tobias told me that my brother was his dad and made me sad/happy/confused" scenes than he was given.