Book Review: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Book: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Genre: Childrens classic
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This was the other choice for our KPOP book club this time around. The Happy Prince (see review here) and this one, The Little Prince. Fun, eh? I'd read it already quite awhile back, but of course it's an easy read, so I read it again this past week.

It's a simple story of a guy who has a plane crash in the African desert, and while he's trying to fix his plane, a "little prince" shows up for a visit. And in their conversations, the guy learns that the prince has visited several other "planets" and learned things from all the people he sees. His last visit is on Earth, and he recalls the people and things he's come across there too. In the end, he has to return to his planet and it makes our airplane guy sad, but he feels like he is better and learned a lot from the little prince.

Last time I remember thinking.. wow. I'm sure something is trying to be said, I just don't know what! But this time, I tried a little harder to figure out what I thought was the lessons to be learned. Here's what I'm coming up with:

1. Take time to slow down in life and smell the roses and look at the the stars and enjoy sunsets.
2. Go out and appreciate the lives of others. Learn and explore.
3. Be loyal and dependable. Take care of things.
4. Open up yourself to be "tamed" or loved and vulnerable.
5. Grown ups are strange!

I don't know... what else do you think there is to be learned from this little tale? I looked it up to see what others thought. Some other ideas are:

1. Don't be too fond of numbers.
2. Don't judge others by what they say, but by what they do.
3. Relationships make life worth living.
4. The important things aren't seen with your eyes, but with your heart.
5. The time you give makes the thing precious.

The book is also full of TONS of quotes. Here's some favorites:

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them”

“What a queer planet!" he thought. "It is altogether dry, and altogether pointed, and altogether harsh and forbidding. And the people have no imagination. They repeat whatever one says to them . . .

“That is the most difficult thing of all. It is far more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself correctly, then you are truly a man of wisdom.” 

“One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets oneself be tamed...” 

“If I try to describe him here, it is to make sure that I shall not forget him. To forget a friend is sad. Not every one has had a friend. And if I forget him, I may become like the grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures...”


Well, anyway. It was fun to revisit this one. We added it to the Kpop book club reads because so many of our reading kpop idols love this book. So many! And again I say, wouldn't it be fun to discuss with them what they love about it???

We'll be announcing our next book in a video on Saturday! Look for it! I'm very excited!