Book Rec: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry

The Book’s Basics

Title: The Little Prince

Author: Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Series: No, this is a stand-alone.

Genre: Children’s

Length: 113 pages

Initial Reaction: Cute! And it made me cry.

Summary

The premise is that there is an adult who wanted to be an artist when he was a child, but “the adults” couldn’t understand his art so he abandoned that dream and became a pilot instead.

When his plane breaks down over a desert, he is in a very dangerous predicament while he tries to repair his plane. 

During this time, a small boy appears and asks him to draw him a sheep, which is a bit of a sore spot for the pilot. 

The little prince tells the pilot about his home planet and about his journey to Earth, which shines a light on a lot of things that we tend to focus on as we age. The pilot is interested, but also very aware that he only has a finite amount of water.

Who would I recommend this book to?

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

Antoine de Saint Exupéry. The Little Prince. Pg. 87

I would recommend this book to older children who enjoy looking at the stars, and who are interested in art, and who maybe feel a little bit lost. While it has fun themes like drawings that can come to life and the little prince visiting different planets, it also touches on grief, loneliness, and one’s life’s purpose.

I would recommend this to any adult who hasn’t read it as an adult because it can help us focus on what is important. How do we spend our time? What do we make out of that time – does it help anybody else? Does it make us happy? What relationships do we make and nurture?

It touches on all of this without being preachy, which is a nice change. It shines a light on things that might be happening in our life as opposed to shouting at us about what changes we need to make.

Side Note

This book hit harder than I expected it to. It was really good and explored themes of love, grief, and belief in simple but powerful ways. 

I think that children’s literature sometimes gets pushed to the side as being uninteresting and easy to understand, but that is not always the case. Just because a child hasn’t been around for very long doesn’t mean that they are completely naive of the world. Grief is experienced by all age groups, and so art and stories that are accessible to children that address themes of loss and death are important.

Childrens’ stories are there to entertain, but also to teach literacy and as much about life as they can. 

This is the first time I have read this book. I think it affected me a bit more because of the pandemic and how isolating it has been. Reading this book has honestly helped me to feel a bit less isolated and closer to those who I cannot visit – especially those who are back in Canada while I am in the UK. My dad sent this book to me in the post, which makes this connection palpable, physical proof of our friendship.

Even though most of my friends and family are far away or I can’t visit with them due to restrictions, the relationships that I have with them still exist – and are meaningful.

“If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All of the stars are a-bloom with flowers…”

Antoine de Saint Exupéry. The Little Prince. Pg. 103