Book Review: Le Petit Prince

[Shiloh Adlar]

Title of the book: Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince)
Authors: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Genres: Children's Fiction

Short summary of the story: The narrator of the story meets a little prince who has fallen to Earth from another planet and he recounts to the pilot his adventures and the lessons he has learned.

Good points / bad points: This is such an incredible book for children and adults alike. On the little prince's adventures, he meets these adults that he finds to be very strange. When he finally arrives on Earth, he meets an animal that answers that mysterious question of why he found them strange. He also gets the answer to his problem of why he left his planet in the first place. The book teaches about the importance of relationships and the time that is spent in building them.

However, reading this story now that I'm older brings to light something I hadn't necessarily wanted to pick up on before but inadvertently knew. There is a sadness at the end that I cannot spoil more than this. At some point, we must grow up. I think perhaps though it is written as a children's book, it is best appreciated by adults when we remember what used to be.

I wouldn't say this book has any bad points except that it's so short at only 96 pages. I guess one doesn't need long to get the point across, and the point comes across brilliantly. Translated into many different languages, I highly recommend reading this in the original French if you have the ability to do so. If not, I would recommend Katherine Woods' translation.