A pilot crash-lands in the Sahara with only a few days of drinking water and is surprised by a small, golden-haired boy who asks him to draw a sheep. The boy, it emerges, has come from a tiny asteroid where he tended three volcanoes and a single proud, demanding rose, whose vanity eventually drove him to leave home.
In episodes he recounts to the pilot, the prince visits other small planets, each inhabited by a lone adult absorbed in something absurd: a king with no subjects, a businessman counting stars he believes he owns, a lamplighter following pointless orders, a geographer who never explores. On Earth he meets a snake and a fox, and the fox teaches him what it means to tame someone and be responsible for them.
Saint-Exupery, himself an aviator, illustrated the book with his own watercolours and wrote it in exile in the United States during the Second World War. It reads as a children's story but speaks most directly to adults about the narrowness of grown-up priorities. It is among the most translated books ever written, and Katherine Woods's early English version remains widely known.
Book details
| Author | Antoine de Saint-Exupery |
|---|---|
| First published | 1943 |
| Original language | French |
| Translated by | Katherine Woods |
| Genre | Children's |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 96 |
| Setting | The Sahara desert and the prince's asteroid, B-612 |
Themes
- Friendship
- Love and responsibility
- Childhood perspective
- Loss
- What matters most
Who should read it
Children and adults alike, especially anyone who suspects grown-ups have forgotten something important.