The Neverending Story

A mysterious book fascinates young Bastian: The Neverending Story. Full of enthusiasm, he takes part in the adventures of its hero Atreyu and in his dangerous mission: He is supposed to save the dreamland Fantastica and its sovereign the Childlike Empress. Soon, however, Bastian must realise that he is more than an uninvolved spectator. And then he finds himself suddenly in Fantastica …
The adventure of his life starts: “Do what you want” is written on the medallion that symbolises limitless power in Fantastica. But what the sentence means Bastian will learn only when it is almost too late. Because his real mission is not to rule Fantastica but to find his way out of it. But how do you leave a realm that has no borders?
With his immortal masterpiece Michael Ende has conquered the hearts of young readers – and those young at heart – all over the world. A fairytale novel for children and adults which up to this day has lost none of its fascination or unrivalled success.

Original Edition

  • Original Title: Die unendliche Geschichte
  • Format: Cloth bound hardcover
  • Pages: 432
  • Illustrations: Roswitha Quadflieg
  • First publication: 1979
  • Publisher: Thienemann
  • Translations:
  • Albanian, Arabic, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (GB & USA), Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovanian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese

In English:

  • The Neverending Story
    Hardcover, 396 pages, Doubleday 1983.

Press Reviews

"An instantaneous leap into the magical … Energetic, innovative, and perceptive"

– The Washington Post

"A rich, enjoyable read … drawing in the most potent elements of fairytale, myth, and invented fantasy."

– The Observer

"You might just get in touch with the child in you who clapped her hands for Tinker Bell."

– Glamour

"A trumpet blast for the imagination."

– Sunday Times

"An appealing, delicately wrought, engrossing adventure."

– Kirkus Reviews

Current Editions

In English:

  • The Neverending Story
    Hardcover, 400 pages, Dutton Books for Young Readers 1997.
  • The Neverending Story
    Paperback, 384 pages, Penguin 1984.
  • The Neverending Story
    Mass market paperback, 448 pages, Penguin 1993.
  • The Neverending Story
    Paperback, 528 pages, Puffin 2014.
  • The Neverending Story
    E-Book, Puffin.

In German:

  • Die unendliche Geschichte
    Cloth bound hardcover, 475 pages, Thienemann Verlag 2019
  • Die unendliche Geschichte
    E-book, Thienemann 2017.
  • Die unendliche Geschichte (luxury edition)
    Cloth bound hardcover, 416 pages, illustrated by Sebastian Meschenmoser, Thienemann 2019.