I’m participating in the #AtoZ April Blogging Challenge 2025 and this will be my third year of joining the vibrant community that loves this one-of-a-kind creative challenge.
This year, my theme is—BOOKS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE—which means they are not just my favourite books, but they’ve also left a deep and lasting impact on me and continue to do so until this day. If you are stopping by this blog for the first time, please do leave your blog link, I’ll be happy to visit yours too. 🙂
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Prince, is considered to be the most famous work of French aristocrat, writer, poet, and pioneering aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. For decades now, the book has captured the hearts of readers around the world, since it was published in 1943.
It was one of the earliest books I read that got my imagination fired but it was only after re-reading it as an adult, that I truly understood what the simple story actually meant. On the surface, The Little Prince is a poetic tale, in which a pilot stranded in the desert befriends a young boy from another planet, and as he works to fix his plane, he listens to the boy’s tales of his interstellar travels.
It was reminiscent of the film, The English Patient, watching Ralph Fiennes in a red airplane, flying over the desert and the subsequent crash and the inevitable consequences of it.
The desert appears to magnify the desolation, proving how a setting can be perfect for great reflections and, great stories, and even greater loss. It is this desert setting where the crashed pilot meets the little prince, whose life experiences illuminate almost every important lesson one could learn in a lifetime.
For me, this is one book, that, has been thought-provoking, sad, poetic, nostalgic and powerful all at once. There are many beautiful life quotes from the book—sharing two of them here:
“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.”
“Where are the people?” resumed the little prince at last. “It’s a little lonely in the desert…” “It is lonely when you’re among people, too,” said the snake.”
There are many beautiful passages that are as reflective and poignant as this. To cite an example, there is an encounter by the Little Prince on his way to Earth, where he comes across several colourful personas—all of them being selfish, smug and indifferent. It is only on Earth, that the wise fox teaches him the art of acquiring friends:
‘Please,’ he said. ‘Tame me!’
‘I’d like to,’ replied the little prince. ‘But I haven’t got a lot of time. I want to make friends and learn about things.’
‘You only know about things you tame,’ said the fox. ‘People haven’t got time to know about things any more. They buy things ready-made in the shops. But as there aren’t any shops that sell friendship, they don’t have friends anymore. If you want a friend, tame me!’
Even the only friend can save you from loneliness. I found this extremely moving and almost like someone holding a mirror to the present day times and how friendship still evokes such mixed feelings and responses in us.
To sum up—more than eight decades since its first release, The Little Prince continues to touch us—it is lyrical, timeless and extraordinary—and it still makes us smile and cry at the same time and touch our hearts, leaving us hopeful about friendship, childhood and life.
No surprise, that after all these years, the book is still cherished by both adults and young across different generations. Highly recommended read!
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If you’d like to read the rest of my A to Z posts written for the #AtoZAprilChallenge2025, then please click here to read on.
I read this book a long time ago. I loved the expressions of creativity in it, but I remember feeling very sad at the end of the book . It’s been too long, so I don’t remember why.
“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.” Ahh, such a beautiful reminder for everyone. Often, we forget to feel things as they are, and we engage ourselves to show off their enriched versions when the truth is, we must feel them in their authentic versions. It also implies on relationships and every other crucial things in life. Your review was enlightening!
Looking for someone who could recommend good books. I found them I believe.