My sixth grade teacher showed “The Neverending Story” to the class one day, and ever since I have loved this movie (and the soundtrack for that matter).

Many years later, my mother found this story in book format. At first I didn’t want any part of it, because a book could never be as good as the movie, but my mother kept on insisting so I finally broke down and brought myself to read it for myself. Let me just say that this was the beginning of my love for German author, Michael Ende’s writings (who sadly passed away in 1995).

Not only was the story much better than the movie, it was much longer too. The first movie barely covers the first half of the book, and even though there were two other movies made, an attempt at a cartoon, and a TV series for younger children, they did not do the story justice.

It’s interesting to note too, that Michael Ende hated the movie. He unknowingly lost film rights when he signed a contract for the book many years ago, and so he didn’t have any say in how they produced it. After seeing how far from the book it truly is, I understand Ende’s criticism, but had it never made it onto the big screen I would not have experienced the joy of his original tale.

Story overview:

A chubby boy (unlike in the movie) named Bastian wanders into a small antique bookstore where he meets the mysterious owner. Bastian sees a book called, “The Neverending Story”, which the man insists is not for sale (and not for him), but a strong yearning to read it forces Bastian’s hand and he takes it when the man isn’t looking.

Bastian reads of the adventures of Atreyu (also incorrectly depicted in the movie as he is actually green), who searches to find an answer to this “Nothing” that is destroying the land of Fantasia. During his quest, Atreyu meets many interesting characters and eventually finds that the answer to the problem is for a human child to give the Childlike Empress a new name. To his astonishment, Bastian finds that this child is actually him, but unfortunately he realizes this too late and the world of Fantasia becomes all but destroyed.

Bastian, now physically removed from the real word, becomes a part of Fantasia. His duty is to make wishes, and in doing so he creates a new Fantasia (including turning himself from a chubby little boy into a studly hero, nice!). However, the power starts to go to his head and he finds himself up against his friend, Atreyu, who tries to keep Bastian from taking the crown of Emperor for himself.

After a long and hard road, Bastian starts to see his folly and realizes that every time he makes a new wish an old memory from his real life disappears. In an attempt to save himself, he quests to find a way to return to the human world.

My thoughts:

This is one of my favorite stories of all-time. I have read it four times, and plan to read it several more; I get something new out of it each reading, not to mention I love being reminded of the many things that I truly enjoyed–particular the Desert of Colors. This blog is too short to be able to put in all that I could say about this book, but I can say that it is so full of symbolism towards the human condition and offers such great opportunities for thought and reflection that I cannot get enough of it.

Things to consider:

I would say that this book is good for girls and boys starting around the age of eight. Of course, it’s also great for a much older audience too, as Ende said, “[my books are] for any child between 80 and 8 years”. I would warn that there are moments which may be considered scary to younger children along with elements of sadness (like when Atreyu lost his horse to the swamps of sadness), but it is really very clean.

Opportunities for discussion:

Where to start… Well, to name a few: you need to keep a balance between the real world and the creative world–do not get so caught up in life that your need for imagination and creative becomes lost, but it’s also important not to become so obsessed over it that you become disconnected from real life; though some people may be proud, flashy and showy, they are likely blind to who they really are inside, which is what matters most; when man is put into a place where he becomes a god of his own world, he learns how vast every little decision is in the scheme of life and creation, thus it makes us understand how unlike God we can ever be; life and death is not something to play around with; we need to grow and progress who we are; beauty on the outside does not reflect beauty on the inside, and vice versa; and I will end with, don’t forget who you are or where you came from, in other words, do not let yourself become prideful and arrogant.