The Little Prince by Antione De Saint-Exupery, Translated by Richard Howard (Everyman's Library)

It seems amazing to think that this stunning children's classic will be celebrating its 75th birthday this year...
Antoine De Saint-Exupery's timeless "The Little Prince" (Le Petit Prince), here brought back to stunning life in a newly translated version by Richard Howard must definitely be amongst a hallowed collection of books that many, many authors would cite as a huge influence on their own work.

I remember being completely hooked on this story as a child, mostly because of its sheer other-worldliness. The story of the narrator, a pilot, who crashes in the Sahara Desert and encounters a mysterious young Prince - who claims to hail from a tiny distant planet.

The two companions both tell their own stories, as the tale entwines the reader in an immersive world that blurs the line between fact and fantasy.

The Prince speaks of his great love - a rose, on his home planet - and how he began to realise that he was being taken advantage of, and must find himself by exploring the rest of the universe (here, Saint-Exupery takes a deep dive into one of the many facets of the story that deals with the human condition - in fact it seems incredible to think that 75 years ago what was being touted as a children's book delved into subjects that you just do not see enough in kidlit today).

As the Prince tells his amazing story to the pilot, of the ten worlds he has visited and the ten humans he has encountered (again a harsh allegory about human vanities and behaviour). Sadly the tale takes a tragic twist, as the Prince longs to return to his home and must make a huge sacrifice in order to do so.

It's dreamy surreal stuff, laced throughout with Antoine's amazing watercolour illustrations (which are utterly charming and child-like). I wondered how C would take to this, as it calls for some pretty "out-there" thinking around the core concepts the story draws parallels to, but she loved it and I think it's going to stick in her mind just as much as it has mine for all these years.

Sublime. One of those books that everyone should ensure finds its way into their child's collection, and this cloth-bound Everyman's Library version is luxuriously presented.

"The Little Prince" by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, translated by Richard Howard, is available now, published by Everyman's Library (kindly supplied for review)