The Little Prince

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If you selected the first poll option that means you are a sensible person. Otherwise you can read on...

I would like to share the joy that I had reading "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint Exupéry. I had read it the first time maybe 20 years ago - it was a required reading at school, one of very few that I liked. Yesterday I again embarked with the little prince on a journey from one asteroid to another, and then to strange planet Earth.

The book is very poetic, even dream-like, and in the same time light, fresh and full of humor. I liked the first half, author's introduction and little prince's space journey, more than the lyrical second half. Also I must note some scientific inaccuracies. For example, prince's home is sometimes referred to as an asteroid, and sometimes as a planet or a star. But in general I hold book's science in a high regard. Did you know that the biggest danger to the asteroids are baobabs?! Author's imagination is amazing beyond words!

"The Little Prince" is a well-known classic, but if you haven't read it (or if you want to do it once more), here is a link to the full text: http://www.angelfire.com/hi/littleprince/frames.html. Note that this site lacks some of the images (that are an integral part of the book).

ah, The Little Prince. I haven't read it in ages.

I remember it made me sad for I am a very sensible person who wishes they were not.

It is sad not to believe in magic.

absolutely, BeeBee.

i love the little prince. and it's not a hat, it's a...

ooooooh, just stopped myself in time from giving it away!

what's "sensible" mean?

Its weird france they used to put a children's author on their money. Shows how different the United States is from France.

Roald Dahl would never be on a 5 dollar bill

I've unfortunately never read it before.

An aunt gave me The Little Prince when I was very young. I suppose I was around eight years old. Accompanying the book was a handwritten note from her, telling me that if I read the book it would change me forever.

That scared the hell out of me! I was scared to death to read it; I didn’t want to be changed. I hid the book away; I didn’t even want to see it on my bookshelf.

So, I never read it.

Even now, some thirty years later, I often think about the gift of that book and my frightened reaction to my aunt’s note. I remember reading the note while holding the book in my hand, running to my room with it, throwing it in the back of my closet, and throwing toys on top of it.

I liked it when I read it in fourth grade (I borrowed it off a friend's bookshelf while sleeping at her house when she wasn't looking and finished it). Borrowed it from the library and quickly got bored with it last week, though.

There is a musical version of that if anyone cares...

am i the only other one who knows (without having read the story recently) that that is not a hat?

I know what it is... but it's only been a few years since I read the book.

I remember not "getting" this book as a kid. I reread it again as an adult, but found it doesn't do much for me. I feel the same way for other "magical surealism" books like The Alchemist that are the big rage right now.

I am very mystical in nature, and drawn to mysticism and mystery. Books like the Cloud of Unknowing and The Practice of the Presence of God ar a couple of my all time favorites. But I do not have the same feelings or attraction to magic (aside from Harry Potter or LOTR - bit those are each another story). To me mystcism and mystery do not require you to abandon reason - only to acknowledge its limitations. Magic on the other hand requires you to forsake reason. I suppose that's great for some, but I just find it fanciful yet lacking real substance that I as a very rational person by nature can take to heart.

I never read the story when I was younger, but I asked for it last Christmas and my parents got me a nice hardcover copy. It is a very nice story, calming, whimsical, and something I can relate to in a number of ways.

It helps, of course, that I love children's books. But this is far from the typical children's book, in my opinion.

I just read it now. It is a great book.