The Neverending Story by Michael EndeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A story can be new and yet tell about olden times. The past comes into existence with the story.
-- Michael Ende, The Neverending Story
Published in 1979, THE NEVERENDING STORY by Michael Ende is a wonderful fantasy tale that was brought to life with a film adaptation in 1984. The film, however, covered only part of the tale of Bastian Balthazar Bux, a bullied schoolboy who finds escape from his tormentors one day as he reads about the magical land of Fantastica in a book called The Neverending Story. He is swept up in the adventures of a boy named Atreyu and the Luckdragon Falkor as they race to learn how to save The Childlike Empress and all of Fantastica from the Nothing that is destroying the land.
The film tells only a little of what happens to Bastian, Atreyu, Falkor and Fantastica AFTER the cure for The Nothing is discovered. As the adventures continue in the second half of the story we find lessons about losing what really matters in the pursuit of acceptance and popularity, and the value of friends who love and accept you for what you are.
The story is filled with many amazing, dare I say fantastic, adventures, creatures, places and characters. Young readers in particular are sure to be entranced by both halves of The Neverending Story, and while there are lessons to be gained from the story, it is not a "preachy" tale by any stretch.
As an older reader, I was charmed by the story and can highly recommend it.
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