In Search of the Little Prince: The Story of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Through dreamlike images with echoes of Brancusi and Dalí, Landmann explores the creative and emotional impetus behind the creation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. Landmann infuses her storytelling with mystery and melancholy as Saint-Exupéry develops a fascination with flight, travel, and writing, serving as a courier pilot, befriending the Bedouins of Morocco, publishing a novel, and flying once again during WWII. The seeds of The Little Prince become rooted in moments of serenity amid the stars of the desert and in loneliness while living in New York City: “Every once in a while, on a blank sheet, he drew the outline of a child. Perhaps it was a young poet. Perhaps it was the prince of some unknown planet... he didn’t know yet.” A haunting ode to a complex individual, and a natural pairing with Peter Sís’s recent The Pilot and the Little Prince. Ages 7–up. (Sept.)