“You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed.”
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince
Anyone who says that children’s literature can’t be deep or meaningful should read this book. I kept hearing things about it, both on the internet and from friends, and I decided that as a children’s literature scholar, I should probably read something that is so popular. And I most definitely wasn’t disappointed.
A man crash lands his plane in the desert and meets the Little Prince, who has left his planet to explore the universe. Throughout his travels, he learns a lot about the variety of adult behavior, mostly that adults tend to have a very narrow view of the world. As Earth as his last stop, he hopes to further his adventures and eventually return to his flower.
The meanings behind this book are very powerful, and I think that everyone will find something different when they read, even at different times in their lives. Isn’t that the mark of a great book? Something that you can keep returning to and every time you do, it makes you feel something different. Though I’ve only read it once, I’m sure that this book fits that description to a t.
This book is also very focused on the differences between the ways that adults view the world and the ways that children view the world. The Little Prince shows the narrator this through his stories, through his voyages. And there are so many quotable moments and lessons that this book would be absolutely fantastic to read to a child. It’s something they could keep with them for the rest of their life.
In addition, there are so many quotable moments here, it was hard for me to pick just one. But pick it up for yourself and see! If I didn’t have a library copy, I honestly probably would have underlined them.
5/5 stars