The Little Prince

I begin not on a page, but in the quiet of a vast desert, under a canopy of a million stars. I am the feeling of loneliness and wonder a pilot feels when his plane crashes far from home. I am the surprise of a small voice asking, 'If you please… draw me a sheep.'. Before you know my name, you know my heart. I am a story about seeing with your heart, about the invisible things that truly matter—like a special rose on a tiny planet or the meaning behind a fox's secret. I am a journey from one strange little world to another, meeting kings with no subjects and businessmen who count stars they do not own. I am a whisper of friendship and a lesson in love and loss, carried on the starlight. My pages hold drawings not of a hat, but of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant, a picture that most grown-ups fail to understand. I am the story of The Little Prince.

I came to life from the mind and hands of a man who was both a dreamer and a doer: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. He was a brave French aristocrat and pioneering pilot who soared through the skies for the French Air Force and later, as a commercial mail pilot. But when he created me, he was far from his beloved home. It was during a dark period for the world, World War II, a time when his country was occupied. He was living in exile in New York City, feeling as lost and lonely as the pilot stranded in my story. During the summer and fall of 1942, he began to write my words and paint my simple pictures with watercolors. He poured his own soul and memories into me—his own harrowing crash in the Sahara Desert in 1935, his complicated love for his wife, Consuelo, and his firm belief that grown-ups become obsessed with 'matters of consequence' and forget what is truly important. He created my friend, the fox, to share the most vital secret: 'What is essential is invisible to the eye.'. On April 6th, 1943, I was officially born, published for the first time in the United States in both French and English by Reynal & Hitchcock.

My creator, Antoine, was a man of action and could not stay away from the conflict that engulfed his home. He returned to flying in the war as part of the Free French Air Force in North Africa. On July 31st, 1944, his plane vanished during a reconnaissance mission over the Mediterranean Sea, and he was never seen again. He never got to see me travel back to his beloved France, where I was finally published in 1945 by Gallimard after the country's liberation. He never knew how his story, born from his own loneliness and contemplation, would make millions of people feel less alone. From that moment on, my journey truly began. I started to learn new languages—first European ones, then spreading across the globe until I spoke over 300 different languages and dialects. I traveled to every corner of the Earth, my words and pictures tucked into the hearts of both children and adults. Children love my adventure among the stars and the curious characters on each planet. Grown-ups, however, read my pages and remember the children they once were, reconnecting with the simple truths they may have forgotten. I became one of the most translated and best-selling books in history, a friend to people in every culture.

Today, I live on, not just as a book on a shelf, but as a reminder. I am in the plays, operas, films, and cartoons that have retold my story for new generations. I am in the museums built to honor my little world, from Japan to France. But most importantly, I am present in the quiet moments when someone looks up at the night sky. My creator promised that if you look at the stars, it will be as if they are all laughing, because you know that on one of them, the little prince is living with his rose. I remind you to take care of your own planet, to cherish the people who are unique to you, and to never let go of the wonder you were born with. I am a promise that the most beautiful things in life cannot be seen or touched, but must be felt with the heart. I am a bridge that helps you connect to the child within you, the one who knows how to find a friend in a fox and a universe in a single star.