The Little Prince
This is yet another classic story for children that I've wanted to read for years. I was hoping for something thoughtful, something that would make children and adults alike to stop and think and it's exactly what I got. This may be a book written for children but, just like A Wrinkle in Time, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince has wisdom to share to anyone who picks it up.
The book is short, just over 100 pages and there are illustrations on nearly every page. We meet the main character in the beginning, most probably a man but his name is never given. He talks about the dreams he had when he was little and the career he choice as an adult. He is a pilot and it’s after a crash in the African desert that he meets the Little Prince. This tiny boy is from another planet and he recounts the story of how he ended up on Earth and all the things he saw and all the people he met on his journey to the main character.
This novel was just as lovely as I hoped it would be. It might seem somewhat boring but it’s a story that makes you look around the world and think. The book was written 1943 but many things mentioned in it is accurate today as well. I think the mark of a good book is one that you can read anytime and that applies to more than one aspect of history. If you can read something that’s 50 years old and it’s still accurate then that’s a story that can really teach us about life and about who we are as people. The Little Prince certainly does that. Not only does it tell children how important and amazing they are, it also tells adults about the mistakes we make and how we need to view the world more as children because they see no limits.
One thing that I really liked about the story was the fact that we don’t know the name of the main character, or even if it is, in fact, a man. As an adult I can assume that it is a man based on the fact that the character worked as a pilot around 1940, not many women did that. But children don’t see it that way, for them the main character could just as well be a woman and I believe this makes it easier for them to relate to the story. All in all, this is certainly a novel that works for both young and old. I think we can all learn something from The Little Prince and I think it’s important to read books like this from time to time to remind ourselves to look at the bigger picture.
The book is short, just over 100 pages and there are illustrations on nearly every page. We meet the main character in the beginning, most probably a man but his name is never given. He talks about the dreams he had when he was little and the career he choice as an adult. He is a pilot and it’s after a crash in the African desert that he meets the Little Prince. This tiny boy is from another planet and he recounts the story of how he ended up on Earth and all the things he saw and all the people he met on his journey to the main character.
This novel was just as lovely as I hoped it would be. It might seem somewhat boring but it’s a story that makes you look around the world and think. The book was written 1943 but many things mentioned in it is accurate today as well. I think the mark of a good book is one that you can read anytime and that applies to more than one aspect of history. If you can read something that’s 50 years old and it’s still accurate then that’s a story that can really teach us about life and about who we are as people. The Little Prince certainly does that. Not only does it tell children how important and amazing they are, it also tells adults about the mistakes we make and how we need to view the world more as children because they see no limits.
One thing that I really liked about the story was the fact that we don’t know the name of the main character, or even if it is, in fact, a man. As an adult I can assume that it is a man based on the fact that the character worked as a pilot around 1940, not many women did that. But children don’t see it that way, for them the main character could just as well be a woman and I believe this makes it easier for them to relate to the story. All in all, this is certainly a novel that works for both young and old. I think we can all learn something from The Little Prince and I think it’s important to read books like this from time to time to remind ourselves to look at the bigger picture.