The Neverending Story is different for each reader. Bastian was dealing with his father telling him its time to grow up, and "get his head out of the clouds". The book responded to this and showed him it is ok to enjoy fantasy and being young. There are other subtler parallelisms in the movie. The bookstore owner explained how, if you were to read 2000 Leagues Under the Sea you can be scared of the octopus, but you know it's only a book. But The Neverending Story is real. The reader "becomes" the main character; Atreyu is the book's manifestation of Bastian. He suffers through his horse Artax dying, just as Bastian suffers through his mother's death. He eats when Atreyu eats, and cries when Atreyu cries. He sees what Atreyu sees, and knows what Atreyu knows. That is what the bookstore owner meant when he said the book becomes "real".
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