by Michael Ende

The Neverending Story is Michael Ende’s best-known book, but Momo—published six years earlier—is the all-ages fantasy novel that first won him wide acclaim. After the sweet-talking gray men come to town, life becomes terminally efficient. Can Momo, a young orphan girl blessed with the gift of listening, vanquish the ashen-faced time thieves before joy vanishes forever?

Unicorns, dragons, sprites, will-o'-the-wisps: the inhabitants of an enchanted world. And into this word—through the pages of an old book—ventures Bastian, a lonely boy of ten or twelve. But Fantastica is slowly decaying, its childlike Empress dying. Only a real human being can set things right by giving the Empress a new name. Bastian takes up the challenge, and finds himself crossing the Swamps of Sadness and the Silver Mountains, meeting sorcerers and giants, bats and night-hobs, gnomes and racing snails, as he journeys bravely toward the Ivory Tower. Bastian's quest is filled with all the wonders of myth and fairy tale. It is a fantasy adventure that will capture your heart—and recapture the magical dreams of childhood.