Michael Ende

Most people probably know Michael Ende from either The Neverending Story or Momo, if they know him at all. These two books are very good, no doubt about it. They are also very easy to analyse and as such they aren't just good, but easily seen as having some depth. However, my favourite novels by Michael Ende are probably Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver and it's sequel Jim Button and the Wild 13. I think that Jim Button is quite possibly one of the best children books ever written, if not the best. While The neverending Story was one of the first real books I read on my own, Jim Button is one of those that I had read to me, before I could read. Since then I must have read it like 10-30 times. Whenever you start that book, it's simply impossible to put down.

Why is it so good? First of all, they are fun. Oh so much fun. The imagination of Mr. Ende in these books is simply marvellous. Everything from the (fictional) China, Lummerland and the city of the dragons, to the crown of the world, to well anything really is described with such imagination, such liveliness and, at times, such a sense of wonderment that it makes the reader wish it was real. It is of course described with a good dose of humour as well. The characters are wonderful, from Jim to Lukas to their locomotive Emma. The story is a lovely mix of a fairytale, a fantasy adventure, a coming-of-age story and so much more. While I think the first book is a little better than the Wild 13, the latter is very very good as well.

I'll always remember the description of how they made Emma fly, in the second book, with an extremely powerful magnet and by breaking all the laws of physics. I knew it wasn't possible when I was a kid, but still it was so well-described, it seemed so logical to a child's mind that I almost believed it. Yes, I could analyse the forces involved and give a very precise description of why it would fail (hell, most people can probably intuitively tell you why), but really, why should I? The idea of it working is much more fun. And that's what these books are; fun. Ende never spoke down to kids, the Jim books were fun, full of excitement and while they are for kids, adults can certainly have a lot of fun with them as well.

So, I recently checked out the wikipedia entry on Jim Button and found out that there was a number of adaptions of it. A "marionette play" movie by Augsburger Puppenkiste (actually kind of an interesting genre, it was pretty well done technically), a french/german animated series and a freaking anime series. I think I saw like an episode of the cartoon once, didn't seem that great and according to wikipedia it diverges a lot. The anime apparently does as well, in fact having almost nothing in common with it. Still kind of curious though, the OP was...interesting, though I wouldn't say good. It's impossible to find though. Anyway, the point is that I was able to find the marionette play. It was actually pretty good. It left out quite a few parts of the novel and it certainly wasn't as good as it, but it was a worthy attempt and it was fun to watch. And sadly, considering that it's a children's show/movie, it did kind of push my ill-remembered German language skills a little bit.

But yeah, I think Michael Ende was a great author and as such he deserves a thread. And also, I felt like talking about him anyways.

edited 23rd Aug '11 6:55:44 AM by Mathias

Seconded. Since I'm from Germany he is practically children's literature canon I read at least some books. Besides Neverending Story and Momo I liked "The Night of Wishes" a lot. The characters are great.

About Lukas... actually those marionette plays are the source most people know the story from (The theater is pretty famous in Germany itself for their plays which are all really worth it.) I never read the book but I saw all the plays and loved them.

edited 8th Feb '11 12:06:48 PM by myrdschaem

Jim Button! I loved the first book. I think my favorite part was the meeting with Mr Tur Tur. Never read the sequel though.

I also loved The Night of Wishes, but my favorite Ende book is still The Neverending Story. I think it's brilliant.

Anyone read Mirror in the Mirror? I borrowed it from the library as a kid because it was Ende. I don't remember most of the stories (I remember Hor, and something about an angel), but I do remember liking it even though I didn't understand most of it. It would be interesting to read it again as an adult.

I probably did read "Mirror in the Mirror" once, but I don't really remember it, so I might as well not have. I should probably get around to reading that. I do mostly remember Night of Wishes though, despite only reading it once when pretty young. Kind of a wierd English title, but I get how it would be hard to translate the German one literally. Luckily it's much easier to translate literally between German and Danish, so I got to read his books with most of the original tone and wordplay intact.

The meeting with Tur Tur was certainly good as well. I don't really have a favourite scene though, I love so many parts of the book. Never knew about that theater before checking out the Jim Button adaption, but as I said I was pretty impressed with the technical quality of it, so they seem pretty good. I do think it's a little sad though if that play has essentially become adaption displacement in Germany, because while it wasn't bad, the original book is still much better.

I really can't judge that but I will check out the original when I have time. Thanks for the recommendation! =)

I've only read Neverending Story and Momo. Gonna have to hunt down his other books.

Reviving th' thread... Anyone else like his work?

I've read The Night Of Wishes and Momo (in two translations, the earlier one and the one that's in print now. The earlier one is better). I want to read Jim Button, but I can't read German and the only English version has been long out of print... And I don't really have any interest in The Neverending Story.

Still, I enjoy his work. It's fantastic, it's philosophical, it's brilliant... It's the best of whatever genre it's in.

Knowing that Ende hated the film of The Neverending Story for supposedly ruining his book... I wonder what he thought of Neverending Story III.