#19 in Classics
Momo
- 269
- Pages
- about 5 h
- Reading time
- Film 1986 +3
- On screen
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Our view
“Momo” is a short, warm fairy tale about time that holds its readers to the last page. Michael Ende sets a child against thieves who steal hours, and through that simple story asks how people in modern societies spend their days. It is a book for any age: children and adults each carry something away from it.
Worth knowing Michael Ende wrote it in Italy, where he lived from 1971, and illustrated it himself; its full German subtitle calls it the strange story of the time thieves and of the child who brought people back their stolen time. It won the German Youth Literature Prize in 1974. Children read it as an adventure, adults as a critique of the hurry of modern life. Ende appears briefly in the 1986 film.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Momo, also known as The Grey Gentlemen or The Men in Grey, is a fantasy novel by Michael Ende, published in 1973. It is about the concept of time and how it is used by humans in modern societies. The book won the German Youth Literature Award in 1974. The full title in German translates to Momo, or the strange story of the time-thieves and the child who brought the stolen time back to the people.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen 4 times — from 1986 to 2025.
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.6 across 287 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 66% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Classics average of 7.7. That is how 8.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 9.0 | 35 | 12% |
| Hardcover | 8.6 | 252 | 88% |
Frequently asked
How long is Momo?
It has 269 pages — shorter than 96% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 8.0 and 8.8, closest to this book.
