For readers who would like a quick reminder of the book and its main storyline, here is a summary of The Little Prince’s travels and those he met along the way.
If Saint-Exupéry is to be believed The Little Prince is a book for children written for grown-ups. It can be read on many different levels to provide pleasure and food for thought for readers of all ages.
The author, an aviator, crashes with his aeroplane in the middle of the Sahara desert. While he is trying to repair his aeroplane, a little boy appears and asks him to draw a sheep. The author learns that The Little Prince comes from asteroid B-612 where he has left behind three volcanoes and a rose.
Before reaching Earth, he has visited other planets and met some very odd people: a king, a conceited man, a drunkard, a lamplighter, a geographer… Since arriving …
For readers who would like a quick reminder of the book and its main storyline, here is a summary of The Little Prince’s travels and those he met along the way.
If Saint-Exupéry is to be believed The Little Prince is a book for children written for grown-ups. It can be read on many different levels to provide pleasure and food for thought for readers of all ages.
The author, an aviator, crashes with his aeroplane in the middle of the Sahara desert. While he is trying to repair his aeroplane, a little boy appears and asks him to draw a sheep. The author learns that The Little Prince comes from asteroid B-612 where he has left behind three volcanoes and a rose.
Before reaching Earth, he has visited other planets and met some very odd people: a king, a conceited man, a drunkard, a lamplighter, a geographer… Since arriving on Earth, he has spoken to a fox who has taught him that to know someone or something, you must « tame » them, and that makes them unique. « What is essential is invisible to the eye, says the fox. »
In order to return to his planet and his rose, The Little Prince allows himself to be bitten by a poisonous snake: his planet is too far away, he cannot take his « shell ». The aviator, who has succeeded in repairing his plane, also quits the desert. He still hopes The Little Prince will return one day and asks us to write and tell him if ever we should meet his friend.
I don't get it. Too obscure for a #SleepStory.
downtosleep.podbean.com/e/the-little-prince-audiobook-part-1-down-to-sleep-64/
Un libro hermoso cuya lectura es diferente para cada persona y cada momento. Muchos dicen (con razón) que no es un libro infantil, y sin embargo a los niños les gusta y le dan su propia interpretación. Si lo lees después de varios años, es muy probable que le encuentres mensajes e ideas que no habías contemplado en otro momento.
En esta relectura me quedó claro que está dirigido a mi niña interior, a recordar que en la vida es ideal tratar de ver las cosas con el sentir comprensivo e imaginativo de un niño. No siempre usar la razón imperante en el adulto, nos lleva a una solución o a ser felices.
Aprender a amar y deleitarse de lo efímero, aquello que es irrepetible. ¿Cuántas veces perdemos el placer de disfrutar un momento grandioso por tratar de capturarlo en una foto o video? Hemos de darle su verdadero valor …
Un libro hermoso cuya lectura es diferente para cada persona y cada momento. Muchos dicen (con razón) que no es un libro infantil, y sin embargo a los niños les gusta y le dan su propia interpretación. Si lo lees después de varios años, es muy probable que le encuentres mensajes e ideas que no habías contemplado en otro momento.
En esta relectura me quedó claro que está dirigido a mi niña interior, a recordar que en la vida es ideal tratar de ver las cosas con el sentir comprensivo e imaginativo de un niño. No siempre usar la razón imperante en el adulto, nos lleva a una solución o a ser felices.
Aprender a amar y deleitarse de lo efímero, aquello que es irrepetible. ¿Cuántas veces perdemos el placer de disfrutar un momento grandioso por tratar de capturarlo en una foto o video? Hemos de darle su verdadero valor a los pequeños momentos, a las personas significativas, pues, aunque sea igual que muchos otros, es diferente porque es tuyo, porque ha establecido una relación contigo.
Recordemos disfrutar del hoy, del momento actual. Eres importante porque eres especial. Busquemos un poco más al niño que fuimos antes.
Relectura en marzo 2022
One of the finest examples of pure fantasy
Extremely emotional.
Not sure why this is placed in Best Children's Books.
Doesn't seem like a children's book though
I think this was a case of I should have read it as a child. It does NOT age well, holy moly! I'm also not really a fan of this style of storytelling, so I'm thinking it's mostly I came at it at the wrong time and age :-)
I read this book a long time ago and decided to re-read it. I noticed so much that I had forgotten and picked up some real wisdom. I've concluded that everyone should read this book at least once because the message is invaluable.
A sweet and surreal children's story
A small, touching book
It's well worth reading this to your kids... if you have any, if not read it to your pets instead if you want... it is really interesting watching them as they try to understand what is going on. My daughter always asks questions whilst we read together, but with this book the number of questions sky rocketed. It really captured her imagination, she was almost at tears in one scene and loved the series of small planets the little prince visits in his travels and the wonderful characters he met. Pretty sure one of those characters was Charles Bukowski.
Real sweet story with lovely little illustrations, I loved how the narrator didn't know how to draw a fox and what he ends up with looks more like an aardvark.
There is also an interesting bio at the end, the author went missing, a year after publication, he was flying over …
It's well worth reading this to your kids... if you have any, if not read it to your pets instead if you want... it is really interesting watching them as they try to understand what is going on. My daughter always asks questions whilst we read together, but with this book the number of questions sky rocketed. It really captured her imagination, she was almost at tears in one scene and loved the series of small planets the little prince visits in his travels and the wonderful characters he met. Pretty sure one of those characters was Charles Bukowski.
Real sweet story with lovely little illustrations, I loved how the narrator didn't know how to draw a fox and what he ends up with looks more like an aardvark.
There is also an interesting bio at the end, the author went missing, a year after publication, he was flying over the Mediterranean similar to the narrator in the story... maybe he found his way back to the little prince.
What a precious story! Wow, I wished I'd read this as a kid.
This little book has more succinct observations about children and adults than most parenting books do. I like how it contrasts the priorities of both in the story, and how it represents children's priorities in life not as simple-minded.
I won't say much more, because I think I'd easily spoil it if you haven't read it.
Commute audiobook. An easy one -- only 1 CD long! Richard Gere is the Pilot/narrator. Sixth Sense-era Haley Joel Osment voices the little prince. Richard Gere is great as an audiobook reader, actually; I'd happily listen to him narrate others. HOWEVER I suspect this is an abridged version (not clear on the CD box) because some of the quotes posted here on Goodreads were definitely not included in the book I listened to. So that's a bit disappointing.
I really enjoyed this while I was listening and kept thinking "I can't wait to read this to my own (hypothetical) kids!" It made me frustrated with the grown-up world and wish I could revert to a childlike state. I gather that's a fairly common reaction. But now, having finished it, I find I'm more frustrated with the book itself than with the grown-up world I'm stuck in, and I don't think …
Commute audiobook. An easy one -- only 1 CD long! Richard Gere is the Pilot/narrator. Sixth Sense-era Haley Joel Osment voices the little prince. Richard Gere is great as an audiobook reader, actually; I'd happily listen to him narrate others. HOWEVER I suspect this is an abridged version (not clear on the CD box) because some of the quotes posted here on Goodreads were definitely not included in the book I listened to. So that's a bit disappointing.
I really enjoyed this while I was listening and kept thinking "I can't wait to read this to my own (hypothetical) kids!" It made me frustrated with the grown-up world and wish I could revert to a childlike state. I gather that's a fairly common reaction. But now, having finished it, I find I'm more frustrated with the book itself than with the grown-up world I'm stuck in, and I don't think it's one I would seek out for my kids on my own initiative.
THE LITTLE PRINCE explicitly differentiates children, who are apparently perfect little vessels of wonder and curiosity and love, from adults, who are apparently vain and officious and consumed with bean-counting and finances. And while I certainly think that wonder and curiosity and love should be celebrated (which the book does, very sweetly), I resent its implication that, as a grown-up, I am probably vain and officious and consumed with counting things that don't matter (stars, dollahs, whatever). Believe me, little prince, I'd be a LOT happier if I didn't have to go to work and make money and worry about my bank balance and pay off my student loans, and instead I could just travel around the universe and think Deep Thoughts and experience all the amazing sights and sounds and feelings and surprises that it has to offer. Alas, if I decided not to go to work ever again and stop paying my student loans, I'd end up without housing or food or warm clothes or the capacity to travel or, very probably, the capacity to feel wonder and curiosity and love. The grown-up world with all the responsibility it demands kind of sucks sometimes... sometimes it sucks a lot... but participating in the intricacies of the grown-up world is what allows parents to give kids the environment to cultivate all those character traits the little prince promotes. And honestly, if you weren't so judgy, little prince, you might not feel the need to go in search of the yellow snake. But that's not all: it's not enough that I am probably a vain, officious bean-counter. If I somehow, miraculously, avoid such a tragic fate and maintain my childlike open-mindedness, I am doomed to be uttterly and irretrievably alone. Fuck that.
Fact: I can be a grown-up, and a responsible one at that, and still experience curiosity, wonder, and love. I don't want my (hypothetical) children to be afraid of growing up. Because unless they're going to chase the yellow snake like the little prince, well, they're going to grow up, and it doesn't have to be terrible.
I thought I would love this, but I did not.
I'm not sure why. I certainly liked some of the language, and the whimsy, but it didn't add up to enough for me really enjoy it.
But it is short.
A beautiful book full of deep thoughts about the things we forget as we grow up
I really do love children's books, I like the philosophical ideas that come through. It really is a classic and I'm glad to have read it.
