The Neverending Story

I wish I had read this as a child! It really threw me for a loop. I truely hated the main character, the further down the path of brattiness be went, the more I despised him. But the story brought a series of enlightenments to the reader and to the boy, which shed light onto his actions and kind of vindicated him.
I enjoyed the pace and the sheer creativity that went into building this story, which gave an unusual sort of met-experience involving the reader herself as well as the characters. As a child I would have doubtless rated this five stars, and as a somewhat jaded adult I can still award four.