THE LITTLE PRINCE
Author:
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
First edition:
Le Petit Prince, tale of 27 chapters, illustrated by the author and published in 1943 by Reynal and Hitchcock.
In short:
There's an accident and a pilot is left alone in the dessert, when he sees a child coming. "If you please...draw me a sheep !", asks the little prince.
The little prince has left his small planet, where he used to live with a rose and some tiny volcanos. When he arrived on the Earth, he found a Fox who told him his secret: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
More about The Little Prince:
The book has been translated into many languages from the original French version. It was also made into a play and a movie, and the children's cable channel Nickelodeon in America ran a cartoon series in the mid-80s based upon the prince, his rose, and his adventures.
Excerps of the book:
"I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.
They answered me: 'Why should any one be frightened by a hat?'
My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant."
Critical analysis:
Read in Ricochet the article by Jeaninne Despinette entitled Heroes in European literature for young adults: The Little Prince.
On the internet:
Read The Little Prince on-line (in English, French, German, Polish...)
English site devoted to The Little Prince.