The Little Prince Introduction

The Little Prince

       Charmingly wise: That’s The Little Prince for you in two words.

       This little book leaves us feeling warm and fuzzy and enlightened, like we’re wearing Snuggies while having a deep and meaningful conversation with Yoda.

       On the surface, the plot of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry sounds a little bizarre: our narrator, who is a pilot flying solo, is forced to land his plane in the Sahara Desert because he has engine trouble. There, he meets a visitor from another planet. Cue Twilight Zone theme music? Well, no, not really. Our alien visitor is not some dangerous being out to wipe out humanity—it’s the little prince of the title. Gradually, he and the narrator become fast friends. The little prince is on a quest and recounts stories about the places he’s been to and the people he’s met, which the narrator records as this book.

Organizational Patterns:

       This book is divided into 27 chapters, each of which varies in length from less than a page to a maximum of 3-4 pages, depending on the size of the edition read.

    While it presents itself primarily as a narrative in the style of a journal, the book actually contains what may be interpreted as two distinct story lines—one involving the story of the little prince, the other involving the pilot/narrator.There is a dedication before the body of the text appears, which intimates at one of the major themes of the story itself. There are also numerous illustrations in the book, drawn by the author himself, and a small after-word (one paragraph)follows the text of the novel.than a page to a maximum of 3-4 pages, depending on the size of the edition read.

     While it presents itself primarily as a narrative in the style of a journal, the book actually contains what may be interpreted as two distinct story lines—one involving the story of the little prince, the other involving the pilot/narrator.
     There is a dedication before the body of the text appears, which intimates at one of the major themes of the story itself. There are also numerous illustrations in the book, drawn by the author himself, and a small after-word (one paragraph)follows the text of the novel.