Bastian embarks on a wild adventure when he enters the magical world of Fantastica, a doomed land filled with dragons, giants, and monsters, and risks his life to save Fantastica by going on a very dangerous quest.

- Fantasy.

After finding a beautiful, but mysterious book in the bookstore, Bastian Balthazar Bux finds himself transported into the story of the book. To his surprise, only he can save the crumbling world of Fantastica, a world filled with dragons, monsters, and many other wonders.

When the Neverending Story was first published in Germany in 1979, it delighted adults and children alike, spending three years on the best seller list. You may have seen the movie that was made from this book, but the movie only covers about half the story and the book is so much more fascinating - both in plot and imaginative detail. I don't believe I have ever read a book that has such an interesting structure. It is both a frame narrative (a story within a story) and a story with two parallel, but related plots. Bastian is a pudgy, awkward schoolboy who often has trouble with bullies. However, when he suddenly becomes a part of the storyline of the book he is reading, he is a hero and the attributes that he is ridiculed for at school are the very traits that will help him achieve his quest to save Fantastica. As a child I often imagined what it would be like to be one of the characters in a book; it is an idea that Michael Ende exploits very effectively. Because the plot is complex and the book is fairly long, it is better for older readers (12 and up). There are no adult themes to be concerned about. This book is full of optimism, hope, and imagination.

Roswitha Quadflieg's very detailed etchings begin each chapter, functioning like the illuminated letters that begin chapters in many medieval books. Each etching features the letter of the alphabet that begins that particular chapter. The chapters are written so that the letters featured in the illustrations go in alphabetcal order; that is, the first chapter begins with an A, the second with a B and so on, until the final chapter which begins with a Z. This feat is exceptional in its own right, but when you consider that this book was translated from German into English, and that the translator, Ralph Manheim, retained this feature while preserving the integrity of the original text, it is especially strking.

The Neverending Story is told by a third person narrator. While most of the vocabulary is not particularly difficult, the plot and a number of the ideas presented are fairly complex. There is a great deal of detailed, descriptive language that will appeal to readers who enjoy imagining the specifics of the setting and action of the story they are reading. This language has the effect of transporting the reader to the world of the story by enabling her to visualize clearly the particulars of the Fantastican world (and coincidentally placing her in a similar position to Bastian).

The frame narrative of the story is the action that takes place in Conrad Coreander's bookshop. When Bastian discovers the book entitled the Neverending Story, his adventure really begins. After reading of Atreyu's quest to save Fantastica, Bastian himself is transported into the action of the book and finds himself embarking on a quest of his own. Bastian and Atreyu's respective quests comprise the parallel structure of the book. What relationship does the reader have to the action in the story? Why is the (actual) book entitled The Neverending Story? Why is the book within a book entitled The Neverending Story?

Creation: The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis

Michael Ende (1929 - 1995)