Book #31: The Little Prince
“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.”
The Little Prince is a beloved children’s book. For some reason, I have never read it until now. I remember seeing the original French in my grade 2 classroom and being intrigued by the pictures, but I never actually picked it up.
de Saint-Exupéry first encounters the Little Prince in the Sahara desert six years before he wrote his book. While only a child, the Little Prince is full of much wisdom. He teaches de Saint-Exupéry to look beyond the obvious and take in the bigger picture, to rid his heart of prejudice, and cease to be narrow-minded.
The Little Prince is full of wonder and amazement. He never ceases asking questions. He is always seeking to obtain more knowledge. He represents the child in all of us; he is pure and full of love. The Little Prince is the story of how we are all kids at heart. Inside of every grown-up concerned with “matters of consequence” is a child struggling to break free.
