Antoine de Saint-Exupéry first published The Little Prince in 1943, only a year before his Lockheed P-38 vanished over the Mediterranean during a reconnaissance mission. More than a half century later, this fable of love and loneliness has lost none of its power. The narrator is a downed pilot in the Sahara Desert, frantically trying to repair his wrecked plane. His efforts are interrupted one day by the apparition of a little, well, prince, who asks him to draw a sheep. "In the face of an overpowering mystery, you don't dare disobey," the narrator recalls. "Absurd as it seemed, a thousand miles from all inhabited regions and in danger of death, I took a scrap of paper and a pen out of my pocket." And so begins their dialogue, which stretches the narrator's imagination in all sorts of surprising, childlike directions.

The Little Prince describes his journey from planet to planet, each tiny world populated by a single adult. It's a wonderfully inventive sequence, which evokes not only the great fairy tales but also such monuments of postmodern whimsy as Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. And despite his tone of gentle bemusement, Saint-Exupéry pulls off some fine satiric touches, too. There's the king, for example, who commands the Little Prince to function as a one-man (or one-boy) judiciary: I have good reason to believe that there is an old rat living somewhere on my planet. I hear him at night. You could judge that old rat. From time to time you will condemn him to death. That way his life will depend on your justice. But you'll pardon him each time for economy's sake. There's only one rat. The author pokes similar fun at a businessman, a geographer, and a lamplighter, all of whom signify some futile aspect of adult existence. Yet his tale is ultimately a tender one--a heartfelt exposition of sadness and solitude, which never turns into Peter Pan-style treacle. Such delicacy of tone can present real headaches for a translator, and in her 1943 translation, Katherine Woods sometimes wandered off the mark, giving the text a slightly wooden or didactic accent. Happily, Richard Howard (who did a fine nip-and-tuck job on Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma in 1999) has streamlined and simplified to wonderful effect. The result is a new and improved version of an indestructible classic, which also restores the original artwork to full color. "Trying to be witty," we're told at one point, "leads to lying, more or less." But Saint-Exupéry's drawings offer a handy rebuttal: they're fresh, funny, and like the book itself, rigorously truthful. --James Marcus


From Publishers Weekly
Young Osment (The Sixth Sense; Pay It Forward) again proves his mettle as an actor, giving voice to the Little Prince in this crisp, full-cast production of the literary classic. He approaches the role with a gentleness and sensitivity that touches the heart and never sounds maudlin. As the pilot whose plane has crashed in the Sahara, Gere plays it low-key, creating a perfect partner for Osment's interplanetary-traveling, wise-beyond-his-years prince. Gere expresses just the right mix of amusement and bewilderment as the prince interrupts the pilot's efforts to repair his plane with a request that he draw a sheep. The adept performances capture the timeless nature of Saint-Exup‚ry's fable about how a child sees the important things in life much more clearly than many adults do. All ages. (Dec.) birth.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
YA-This new translation into "modern" English brings a classic tale into sharper focus for today's teens without sacrificing the beauty and simplicity of the author's writing, and the "restored" artwork has all the charm of the original drawings. What appears to be a simple tale of two lost souls-one, a pilot marooned in the desert next to his ditched plane; the other, a minuscule prince in self-imposed exile from an asteroid so small that he can watch the sunset 44 times a day-reveals itself as something far more complex. What appears to be a fairy tale for children opens like the petals of the Little Prince's flower into a fantasy that has lessons for all of us.Molly Connally, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
At first, Richard Gere's pause-laden, melancholic narration seems affected, but as this fable of childhood wonder and adult folly unfolds, the sad, quiet tone feels entirely appropriate. As the Little Prince, guilelessly portrayed by The Sixth Sense's Haley Joel Osment, leaves his tiny planet to journey across the universe, he encounters characters who embody greed and futility, and finally a fox who, in a brief but standout performance by Adam Frost, asks to be tamed. Gentle, contemplative music underscores the story, and by the end, the Little Prince has learned that the weightiest matters in life--bonds of friendship and responsibility--are the most intangible. Saint-Exupéry's pilot has been changed irrevocably by his encounter with the Little Prince; listeners will doubtless feel the same way. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Alice Cary, Bookpage June 2000
"Here, Little Prince fans is the definitive edition. Happy Birthday, Saint Exupery."


Book Description
Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince. Richard Howard's new translation of the beloved classic--published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's birth--beautifully reflects Saint-Exupéry's unique and gifted style. Howard has excelled in bringing the English text as close as possible to the French, in language, style, and most important, spirit. The artwork in this new edition has been restored to match in detail and in color Saint-Exupéry's original artwork. Harcourt is proud to introduce the definitive English-language edition of The Little Prince. It will capture the hearts of readers of all ages.



Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French


Card catalog description
An aviator whose plane is forced down in the Sahara Desert encounters a little prince from a small planet who relates his adventures in seeking the secret of what is important in life.


About the Author
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944) was born in Lyons, France. A year after the publication of The Little Prince, Saint-Exupery disappeared over the Mediterranean while flying a reconnaissance mission for his French air squadron. Best known throughout the world as the author and illustrator of The Little Prince, Saint-Exupery wrote several other books that also have become classics of world literature. The translator, Richard Howard, is the author of eleven books of poetry, including Untitled Subjects, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1970, and most recently, Trappings. He is the translator of more than 150 works from the French, including The Charterhouse of Parma. In 1984 he received the American Book Award for his translation of Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal. Mr. Howard lives in New York City.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Fans of that stellar Little Prince can celebrate his 60th anniversary with a stunning gift edition! A must-have for any collector, this edition comes with a satin ribbon bookmark and presentation page, all enclosed in a cloth slipcase with gold stamping. The starry prince has delighted readers for six decades, but he's never looked better.

ANNOTATION

An aviator whose plane is forced down in the Sahara Desert encounters a little prince from a small planet who relates his adventures in seeking the secret of what is important in life.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Since 1943, the wise little boy from Asteroid B-612 has led children and their adults to deeper understandings of love, friendship, and responsibility. The Little Prince is a cherished story, read by millions of people in more than a hundred languages. In honor of its sixtieth anniversary, Harcourt is proud to present this special edition of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's treasure, which includes a satin bookmark and presentation page, and comes in an elegant cloth slipcase enhanced with gold stamping and embossing. A must-have edition for any collector, this lovely book is also the perfect gift for those new to the wisdom of the Little Prince and the charms of his rose-and-star-filled worlds.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Many old friends revisit readers in handsome new volumes. Always welcome is that charming visitor from another planet, Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. A 60th-anniversary gift edition features a cloth slipcase, a satin ribbon bookmark and a bookplate. The fable remains as lyrically haunting as ever in Richard Howard's new (2000) translation. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Young Osment (The Sixth Sense; Pay It Forward) again proves his mettle as an actor, giving voice to the Little Prince in this crisp, full-cast production of the literary classic. He approaches the role with a gentleness and sensitivity that touches the heart and never sounds maudlin. As the pilot whose plane has crashed in the Sahara, Gere plays it low-key, creating a perfect partner for Osment's interplanetary-traveling, wise-beyond-his-years prince. Gere expresses just the right mix of amusement and bewilderment as the prince interrupts the pilot's efforts to repair his plane with a request that he draw a sheep. The adept performances capture the timeless nature of Saint-Exup ry's fable about how a child sees the important things in life much more clearly than many adults do. All ages. (Dec.) FYI: Last year marked the 100th anniversary of Saint-Exup ry's birth. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature - Candice Ransom

Those of us concerned with quality preschool literature long for the demise of inappropriate books repackaged into board books. With the publication of four slip-cased board books based on the classic allegory The Little Prince (Friends of the Little Prince, Counting With the Little Prince, A Day With the Little Prince, and I Am the Little Prince/Je Suis Le Petit Prince), one hopes the end is near. On the surface, I Am the Little Prince seems to employ good board book design elements: brief text printed on nursery-pastel backgrounds, watercolor illustrations on contrasting white backgrounds. So far so good. Closer examination reveals that some of the art retains it original clarity while others parts are poorly reproduced. Besides murky illustrations, the bilingual text and art don't always work together. On one page the text reads: "I live on a small planet./J'habite sur petite planete." The accompanying illustration shows the Little Prince standing on his lumpy planet, sweeping out the fenced-in volcano. The text makes no mention of the Little Prince's actions. Children sharing this book would wonder, "What is he doing?" For this age group, illustrations should amplify the story, not go off in another direction. This is what happens when books for older children are reformatted into board books with no regard to the needs and interests of toddlers. 2003, Harcourt Red Wagon, Ages 1 to 3.

School Library Journal

Gr 1-4-Actors Richard Gere and Haley Joel Osment read Antoine de Saint-Exupery's book with the assistance of several other actors and actresses. A pilot stranded in the desert awakens one morning to see, standing before him, a most extraordinary little fellow, who teaches him the secret of what is really important in life. Gere reads the part of the Pilot, and Osment takes the part of the Little Prince. The reading by all the participants is accomplished with great skill and feeling. Piano and strings provide very lovely background music composed by Alexandre Stankevicius. This abridged recording of the classic book should be welcome in most library collections.-Beverly Bixler, San Antonio Public Library, TX Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile