The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery - BOOK REVIEW

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1943) – BOOK REVIEW

 This book I found quite charming! You can look at it from two points of view, the straight forward view being a story about a little prince and his adventure or a more advance in depth view about a little prince who is rather lonely and wants a friend. I took both routes as it happens. I imagined reading the book to my children in the future and it was just a fun, adventurous story with no emotional attachments. The pictures I had a giggle at, they are both cute and artistic.

When I looked at it in more depth, with emotional attachment you come to realise that it is quite a sad story. The little prince comes from Asteroid B-612 and he is the only one on his planet, he has neighbours but they are all too self –centred and worried about their own affairs. He lands on planet Earth and meets Antoine de Saint-Exupery. They both have an instant understanding of each other even though the little prince is a child and Antoine is an adult. They make friends yet they both have to soon part to get back to their daily lives, before they leave they share a few pleasures together. This part for me is the sad bit of the story as they both have made a bond after years of the prince trying to find a friend like Antoine, the probability that they will see each other again is a million to 1.

 

'The men where you live,' said the little prince, 'grow five thousand roses in the same garden ... and they do not find what they are looking for ...'
'They do not find it,' I replied.
'And yet, what they are looking for could be found in a single rose or in a little water.'
'Yes, indeed,' I replied.
And the little prince added: 'But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart.'

 

It is such a beautifully strange book as it has a kind of ambiguous meaning, yet it is child-like and fun at the same time. The book has some great quotes which I think children could learn a lot from and adults would value. It is definitely a worthwhile book which can be read many, many times over.

 

 

 

Tell me what you think!! :-)