The Little Prince | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

In the vast Sahara Desert, where endless dunes stretch toward infinity, a pilot crashes his plane and encounters the most extraordinary child—a golden-haired boy who claims to come from a distant asteroid no larger than a house. Thus begins Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's timeless masterpiece, The Little Prince, a deceptively simple tale that has captivated readers across generations and cultures since its publication in 1943.

What appears to be a children's story quickly reveals itself as a profound meditation on love, loss, friendship, and the human condition. Through the innocent eyes of the little prince, who travels from planet to planet meeting peculiar adults obsessed with numbers, power, and meaningless pursuits, Saint-Exupéry crafts a gentle yet piercing critique of how we lose our sense of wonder as we grow older. The prince's encounters—with a king ruling over nothing, a businessman counting stars he believes he owns, a lamplighter trapped in endless routine—serve as mirrors reflecting our own forgotten dreams and misplaced priorities.

The story's true magic lies in its ability to speak simultaneously to children and adults, revealing different layers of meaning with each reading. The famous fox who teaches that "one sees clearly only with the heart" and the prince's tender care for his beloved rose become profound lessons about what makes life meaningful: not the things we accumulate, but the relationships we nurture and the love we give and receive.