It is billed as a children's classic but I'd say it for children of all ages.
It starts with a wonderful dedication page which sets up the book as one dedicated to children and adults who can still appreciate child-like things:
TO LEON WERTH. I ask children to forgive me for dedicating the book to a grown-up. I have a serious excuse: this grown-up is the best friend I have in the world. I have another excuse: this grown-up can understand everything, even books for children. I have a third excuse: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs to be comforted. If all these excuses are not enough, then I want to dedicate this book to the child whom this grown-up once was. All grown-ups were children first. (bet few of them remember it.) So I correct my dedication: TO LEON WERTH, when he was a little boy.I started out listening to the audiobook but the illustrations were referenced so I had to grab the print edition to look at them. The book is full of charming illustrations like this:
All illustrations were done by Saint-Exupery himself.
It is a darling story about the importance of friendship and the problems with narrow-mindedness full of memorable quotes.
“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.”
“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”
“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.”The book is a mere 83 pages long. Take an hour or so and immerse yourself in this wonderful tale.
Rating 5/5
