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.