The Little Prince is one of the most exciting surprises I’ve found in a book in a long time. At first, I was skeptical that this would qualify as a young adult book – it’s a very self-aware picture book, after all, but I was startled at the level of emotional depth that it contained. To be honest, there are parts of the book that I’m not certain I’d be comfortable with giving to a young child. There are very serious themes that while young children may understand on a surface level, are much more valuable to an older reader. Death is a theme of the novel, both as a looming threat to the narrator, who has crashed a plane in the Sahara Desert, and as an eventual conclusion for the body of the Prince on Earth. The story is fantastical throughout, and the format of the fantasy allow Saint- Exupéry to offer critiques on many different aspects of society.
I really did enjoy this book. It repeatedly reaches emotional highs and lows, varying between really depressing existential pessimism, and a sort of wondrous appreciation of beauty in the world.
All things considered, it is really hard to figure out what the “ideal” age group for this book is. There’s a certain type of grown-up that the book is fairly clearly not for – or rather, that it would be perfect for, in the unlikely situation that they should pick it up in the first place. Apart from that, I see the targeted age group as fairly open. The themes of friendship, love, wonder, beauty, hardship, and growing up are all applicable to children of all ages, and it seems somewhat wrong to set a “cut-off age” for the book. The very dedication of the book addresses the discrepancy between grown-ups and children, with the favor leaning heavily towards the latter.
As for the teachability of The Little Prince, I’d say that there is a lot to be said about the book. For one thing, it is translated from French (and has been translated into over a hundred different languages). If I were to teach this book, I would want to have a copy or two of the original French version at the ready to promote the knowledge that literature is not solely an English domain. The fact that nearly every work that is read in the typical Language Arts classroom can understandably create this misconception if there are no contrary examples offered.
The intense emotional content of this book is the primary focus I would have were I to teach it. Empathy and understanding characters are two skills that I consider highly valuable, so I would be sure to have students comment on their own responses to the book. My interest in the emotional reactions to The Little Prince intends to get students thinking consciously about emotion, which is typically an unconscious subject. By having students think consciously about their own reactions to the story, I will encourage them to take the skills of self-examination and use them more frequently. Also, students who are existentially inclined will be fascinated by the philosophical elements of the text.
This philosophical thinking could easily be another teaching focus for the book. Rarely in high school literature are philosophical statements made so bluntly as they are in this book. Often, the higher order thinking required to piece complex philosophies together from other fiction requires too much effort for a less substantial goal. By using a book that thinks consciously about philosophy, students can be introduced to that realm without having to begin with a big blind leap. Introducing philosophy with a simpler or more frank text will provide scaffolding for interested students to pursue further studies of their own.
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