An Introduction

Author Background• Antoine De Saint-Exupery• Born in France in June of 1900• Was a writer, French Aviator, and war hero• In 1935, Saint-Exupery crashed his plane in the Sahara

desert; he was rescued after days wandering • Flew dangerous war missions after France was invaded

in World War II • Wrote the Little Prince in 1940• In 1944, his plane was shot down during a war mission.

Book Background

• The three most popular books in the 20th century — the Holy Bible, Muslim Koran, and The Little Prince

• It is the story of a child written for grown-ups.• The novel initially opens with a pilot who

crashes his plane in the middle of the desert. Remind you of someone?

Illustrations

The novel is filled with illustrations which give the book a childlike quality

Book Background

• The pilot meets the Little Prince, a traveler from a far away planet who becomes the pilot’s friend.

Major Characters: The Little Prince

• A pure and innocent traveler.• His childlike behavior is contrasted with

different adult characters.• Believes the search for answers is more

important than the answers themselves.

Major Characters: The Pilot (Narrator)

• An adult, but used to be an imaginative child.

• He serves as the prince’s confidant and relays the prince’s story to us.

Major Characters: The Rose

• She is vain and naïve, but the prince still loves her because he has spent so much time caring for her.

• A symbol of universal love, encompassing both human characteristics of good and bad.

Major Characters: The Fox

• He is both the Prince’s pupil and instructor.• His encounter with the little prince displays an

ideal friendship.

Major Characters: The Snake

• A biblical allusion• He represents the

unavoidable phenomenon of death.

Literary Terms to Know

• Allegory – A literary work with more than one level of meaning

• Symbol – An object with a deeper level of meaning

• Flashback – An interruption in the chronological sequence of a story by the narration of events which occurred earlier

Closing

How much has your prediction come true? Write 2-4 sentences (on the back of your story

impressions worksheet) explaining whether your prediction was correct or incorrect, and cite one

example from the text which supports it.