This beautiful and poignant story has been translated into around one hundred and eighty different languages and run through numerous editions. There are at least five different translations in English alone. It was written in 1943 and first published the same year in the native French language of its author. He was an aviator and perished at the age of forty-four whilst undertaking a reconnaissance mission. It is likely that his tale of the Little Prince was prompted by a serious plane crash in which he and his navigator were brought down in the Sahara. His experiences during that time include things that are similar to events forming parts of the involving a downed aviator who meets a Little Prince who asks him to draw a picture of a sheep. The extended conversation that develops between the stricken flyer and the diminutive prince forms the whole of the book. It seems that the little prince has gone from planet to planet, finally finding himself on earth. He meets a king on one planet; a businessman on another, a lamplighter is the solitary inhabitant of yet another planet and so it goes along. There is a gentle but relentless message coming through all the descriptions, observations and questions that the sad, and in other ways happy prince makes and asks. In ways this fairy story strips away the pretentiousness of man and seeks to bring out the worth and meaning of usefulness and beauty. It is a winsomely playful book but in deadly earnest too. There is a penetrating serious exposure that takes place throughout and along the way some memorable statements are made by this author as to the meaning of life. “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye” is the sentence that quintessentially sums up the whole of the book. The Little Prince had a rose growing from a seed that grew on his own planet, he had spent a lot of time watering it and although it seemed a vain rose he loved it and later he meets a wise fox who tells him that “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.” I am not sure that you could call this simply a children’s book for both children and their parents could benefit by going through it together. It would undoubtedly become a favorite as it is read and re-reading would bring all into a greater understanding of what it means to live. There are arguments as to which is the best translation into the English language but most seem to feel that the one by Katharine Woods excels in most sensitively capturing the intent of the original French.
