The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

A Children's Book to Make Adults Cry

As a youth encountering the golden curls of The Little Prince, one is presented with a tale of delightfully peculiar characters memorably parading in watercolor across its pages. The joyously absurd mini-planets with their singular inhabitants, the friendly fox, and the venomous snake paint the imagination brightly. Yet, even with young eyes, the melancholic wisdom of the diminutive prince and his strange journey may be traced.

As an older reader, one marks in Antoine's playful tone sincere reflections on life, love, loss, and loneliness. His colorful blend of the whimsical with the earnest allows us to fully appreciate his indulgence in plainly stating the profound. Through the spritely prince, Antoine voices the learning of his years through the voice of a child: unreservedly and simply.

"All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember." It is important to remember. That's a lesson I once learned and have often forgotten. And if you listen, when you look up at the stars at night, you can hear the laugh of that little prince.