The Little Prince

Imagine turning my soft, smooth pages. Inside, you’ll find gentle pictures painted with watercolors, showing starry skies and sandy deserts. My story begins with a small boy who has golden hair, the color of wheat fields in the sun. He lives on a tiny planet, hardly bigger than a house, with a beautiful and very proud rose that he loves more than anything. But he feels a little lonely, so he decides to go on an adventure. He flies away from his home to visit other little worlds floating in space. On his journey, he meets all sorts of silly grown-ups. One man wants to own all the stars, and another wants everyone to clap for him all the time. They are so busy with their important-seeming jobs that they’ve forgotten how to wonder and dream. I am a book filled with stars, sand, and secrets. My name is The Little Prince.

My creator was a kind and adventurous man named Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. He wasn't just a writer; he was also a very brave pilot. He flew airplanes across huge, empty deserts and wide, sparkling oceans, delivering mail and helping people. Around the year 1942, he was living in a big city called New York, far away from his home in France. It was during a very sad time in the world called World War II, and he missed his home very much. One of his own adventures helped him dream me up. He once crashed his plane in the Sahara Desert and had to survive all alone. This experience helped him imagine a pilot meeting a little prince in the middle of nowhere. Sitting in his New York apartment, he wrote my words and painted my pictures, pouring all his feelings about friendship and what is truly important into my pages. I was finally ready to be shared with the world, and my first copies were published on April 6th, 1943, hoping to bring a little bit of light to a dark time.

Deep inside my pages, a wise fox shares a very important secret with the little prince. He whispers, 'What is essential is invisible to the eye.' That might sound like a riddle, but it means that the most important things in the world can’t be seen. You have to feel them in your heart. Things like friendship and love aren't something you can hold in your hand, but they are the most valuable treasures of all. Since I was first created, my story has traveled all around the globe. Children and even grown-ups read my words in hundreds of different languages, from French to Japanese to Swahili. I hope that when people read about the little prince and his rose, they remember to look at the world with wonder, just like a child does. My biggest wish is to help everyone care for the people and things that are special to them, and to always remember to see with their hearts.