The Little Prince [Paperback]

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Author), Richard Howard (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2000 | Age Range: 11 and up | Series: The Little Prince | Lexile Measure: 710L (What's this?)

Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince. Richard Howard's new translation of the beloved classic-published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's birth-beautifully reflects Saint-Exupéry's unique and gifted style. Howard, an acclaimed poet and one of the preeminent translators of our time, has excelled in bringing the English text as close as possible to the French, in language, style, and most important, spirit. The artwork in this new edition has been restored to match in detail and in color Saint-Exupéry's original artwork. By combining the new translation with restored original art, Harcourt is proud to introduce the definitive English-language edition of

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry first published The Little Prince in 1943, only a year before his Lockheed P-38 vanished over the Mediterranean during a reconnaissance mission. More than a half century later, this fable of love and loneliness has lost none of its power. The narrator is a downed pilot in the Sahara Desert, frantically trying to repair his wrecked plane. His efforts are interrupted one day by the apparition of a little, well, prince, who asks him to draw a sheep. "In the face of an overpowering mystery, you don't dare disobey," the narrator recalls. "Absurd as it seemed, a thousand miles from all inhabited regions and in danger of death, I took a scrap of paper and a pen out of my pocket." And so begins their dialogue, which stretches the narrator's imagination in all sorts of surprising, childlike directions.

The Little Prince describes his journey from planet to planet, each tiny world populated by a single adult. It's a wonderfully inventive sequence, which evokes not only the great fairy tales but also such monuments of postmodern whimsy as Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. And despite his tone of gentle bemusement, Saint-Exupéry pulls off some fine satiric touches, too. There's the king, for example, who commands the Little Prince to function as a one-man (or one-boy) judiciary:

I have good reason to believe that there is an old rat living somewhere on my planet. I hear him at night. You could judge that old rat. From time to time you will condemn him to death. That way his life will depend on your justice. But you'll pardon him each time for economy's sake. There's only one rat.

The author pokes similar fun at a businessman, a geographer, and a lamplighter, all of whom signify some futile aspect of adult existence. Yet his tale is ultimately a tender one--a heartfelt exposition of sadness and solitude, which never turns into Peter Pan-style treacle. Such delicacy of tone can present real headaches for a translator, and in her 1943 translation, Katherine Woods sometimes wandered off the mark, giving the text a slightly wooden or didactic accent. Happily, Richard Howard (who did a fine nip-and-tuck job on Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma in 1999) has streamlined and simplified to wonderful effect. The result is a new and improved version of an indestructible classic, which also restores the original artwork to full color. "Trying to be witty," we're told at one point, "leads to lying, more or less." But Saint-Exupéry's drawings offer a handy rebuttal: they're fresh, funny, and like the book itself, rigorously truthful. --James Marcus

From School Library Journal

Grade 4 Up—Saint-Exupéry's little prince, interplanetary traveler and ingenuous seeker of that which is most important in life, returns in an elegant pop-up edition with unabridged text. The original artwork has been repositioned and redesigned to incorporate movable sculptures, turning wheels, and other visual effects. Almost every spread features an illustration, each carefully placed to add to the story's pacing and augment its impact. For example, readers' first glimpse of the little prince's tiny planet is dramatically presented via an illustration that spins upright as the page is turned. The boy's recounting of his relationship with his beloved yet vexing flower is made more immediate through a series of sequenced flaps, each harboring a tiny pop-up image. A towering 3-D depiction of the protagonist posed atop a mountain peak underscores his sense of loneliness. Delineated with a delicate touch, the paper engineering adds a new dimension to this wistful fairy tale without overpowering it, enhancing the story's subtleties and echoing its sense of wonder.—Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Pop-Up edition.

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Product Details

• Age Range: 11 and up
  
• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (May 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156012197
• ISBN-13: 978-0156012195
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (411 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Children's Books > Classics
  • #87 in Books > Children's Books > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Edition of a Classic Tale November 17, 2009

By Karen Marie

Format:Pop-Up

Opening the cover of any new book comes with a feeling of great anticipation, however, the thought of seeing how Exupery's art would be made into pop-up cut-outs accelerated that feeling into one of almost surreal joy. Fortunately, I wasn't disappointed. The illustrations are beautifully rendered and the quality of the materials are to be appreciated. I especially am grateful that the story is completely unabridged, leaving the words and the feelings to carry on to work their magic for years to come.

I've purchased an additional five copies to give as collectible gifts to others whom I know love this tale of life, love and death. It is certainly a must-have edition for any collector of pop-up books, classic children's tales or philosophical classics. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Huge Disappointment December 7, 2000

By Katharine Kalweit

Format:Hardcover

I was excited that a new translation of this lovely book was out... until I read it. This translation has eliminated most of the poetry of language that made Katherine Wood translation of Saint-Exupery's book a classic in the first place. This includes a translator's note that sounds exceedingly pompous once you have read this new translation. I would not stock this book in my library, give it as a gift, or even donate it. What a disappointment!

In contrast, the Katherine Woods translation of this book is one of the finest books to ever come my way. In beautiful, spare poetry, she relays Saint-Exupery's lessons about life, teaching us that "what is essential is invisible to the eyes."

89 of 97 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrific translation May 23, 2006

By MFP

Format:Hardcover

Why in the world did the publisher accept this horrific and unnecessary new translation. Judge for yourself. From the 1943 Katherine Woods translation: "'As for me,' said the little prince to himself, 'If I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water.'" The new Richard Howard translation: "'If I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked,' the little prince said to himself, 'I'd walk very slowly toward a water fountain.'" I mean ... really.