The Little Prince

Plot

A pilot stranded in the Sahara meets a young prince from asteroid B-612. The prince describes his tiny planet, his beloved rose, and his journey through asteroids inhabited by adults representing human follies (king, vain man, drunkard, businessman, lamplighter, geographer). On Earth he meets a fox who teaches him about taming, and a snake who offers him passage home.

Key characters

Themes for 2026

• •Journey itself more important than destination
• •Loss of wonder in adulthood
• •What it means to be 'essential' — invisible to the eye
• •Taming as creating bonds
• •The impossibility of going back

Cross-subject hooks

• →Art: visual storytelling, Saint-Exupéry's illustrations
• →Science: astronomy, asteroids, planetary exploration
• →Social Studies: critique of adult priorities and materialism

Debate angles

• ⚖Is childhood wisdom truer than adult expertise?
• ⚖Should we resist 'growing up' culturally?

Quotes worth knowing

• "What is essential is invisible to the eye."
• "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
• "All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it."
• "It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."
• "Where are the people?" resumed the little prince at last. "It's a little lonely in the desert…" "It is also lonely among men," the snake said.

Study questions

1. Each adult on the asteroids is a single vice. Pick one and argue what childhood thing it lost.
2. What does 'taming' mean in the fox's vocabulary, and how is it different from 'owning'?
3. Is the snake a villain, a friend, or neither?
4. The book opens with a drawing adults misread as a hat. Where else does Saint-Exupéry repeat that gag in disguise?