Save an empire while being endlessly entertained

The borderless kingdom of Fantastica is in danger of being consumed by the Nothing- a growing emptiness born from lack of imagination, that saddens its victims before it makes them and their surroundings disappear. There is hope for Fantastica however, its fate rests in the imagination of a shy, chubby, 12 year-old boy hiding beneath army blankets in his school’s attic, and this boy’s name is Bastian Balthazar Bux. While reading his stolen copy of The Neverending Story he begins to notice the characters are speaking about him, and to him, pleading him to help before the Nothing reaches to the Childlike Empress, Fantastica’s leader. Two words bring Bastian into the story just before the Ivory Tower, the Childlike Empress' home and Fantastica's epicenter, is lost forever. The Childlike Empresses greatfully bestows Bastian with the freedom of making wishes in order to recreate the rest of Fantastica that has disappeared. With many wishes and his gift of storytelling Bastian travels and expands Fantastica’s domain and adds to its cast of characters. However he soon realizes that he must be very careful about what to wish for, or he may disappear into the story forever.


This classic tale is layered with exotic fantasy places, fascinating and well-invented characters, and terribly creative subplots. Readers will never be able to forget the good-spirited luckdragon, Falcor, or the brave Atreyu, or even the deceptive Xayide. The Neverending Story is indeed a story about a far away land, but it also a story about Bastian, an intelligent and sensitive boy that is faced with the tragedy of losing his mother and the challenges of being bullied by his classmates. Bastian personifies both human frailty and resilience, and all other qualities in between. Ende has painstakingly woven such complex ideas with a child-friendly story that this novel may be reread several times throughout one’s life, making it without a doubt a true neverending story. Grades 4-7.


Ende, Michael. (1979). The Neverending Story (Ralph Manheim, trans.). Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
ISBN: 0-385-17622-8
Cover art from Fantastic Fiction,www.fantasticfiction.co.uk