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

I can’t tell if I have ever read this before, but I feel like I feel like I’ve read it, if that makes sense, because so many people I’ve known through the years have been obsessed with this book. Also, of course, I’ve run in more than one circle that’s been peppered with Little Prince tattoos.

Anyway, I wanted to mention how after I read this, I then read about the author, and his story is quite touching and interesting. Just that when he otherwise didn’t have to, and against orders and better judgment, he joined up with the French air force and died in battle.

Now, this represents a kind of romanticism that perpetuates in this book that ended up being a lot more interesting and affecting than I thought would be the case.

So, here’s what I thought this book would be like: a whimsical tale about a French prince on a small planet.

And it is exactly those things, but also, it’s a lot more funny and cute and smart than that. There’s a beautiful sense play going in this book, and there’s also a kind of almost erudite whimsy to it. The description of the other planets are charming and the art is great.

It reminds me a lot of Baron Munchausen and Beauty and the Beast and Grimm’s Fairy Tales, in the most wonderful ways without feeling forced.

I decided to revise this book because it made Le Monde’s top 100 books in the top 10 from that list. It’s interesting for me to see what children’s literature is like in other parts of the world.

(Photo: https://shop.whiterabbitjapan.com/products/the-little-prince-japanese-edition)