The Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Summary
A pilot stranded in the Sahara Desert after a crash meets a small golden haired visitor from a tiny asteroid, who recounts his travels among a series of strange adults, a vain rose he loved and left behind, and a wise fox who teaches him what truly matters. Saint Exupery, himself an aviator, distills a philosophy of love, loss, and responsibility into deceptively simple prose paired with his own delicate watercolor illustrations. The novella has since become one of the best selling and most translated books ever published.
Historical Context & Significance
No major literary prize recognized the novella when it first appeared in New York in 1943, published in French by an author living in wartime exile from occupied France. Saint Exupery disappeared on a reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean the following year and never learned how beloved his small book would become.