In France, the publishing world is falling over itself to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s modern book of parables, Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince). In the book, the title character relates the story of his cosmic adventures to a downed pilot on Earth.
Since its writing in 1943, the book has sold more than 145 million copies worldwide and has been translated into nearly 300 languages and dialects.
Saint-Exupery was a pilot himself and he died while on a mysterious reconnaissance mission in 1944, not living to see the book’s publication in France in 1946, after World War II had ended.
To mark the anniversary, Folio will be issuing a booklet of 24 drawings by Saint-Exupery as well as a cartoon edition of the book. Find out about other pending publications at The Raw Story.
The Little Prince has seen numerous film and television adaptations, but, for me, Will Vinton’s 1979, Claymation masterpiece is the most magical. Throwing my own celebration for Saint-Exupery, here is the film in its entirety.
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What is your favorite adaption of The Little Prince?
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