Do we like them?

Do we like The Little Prince?

A character from The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) (1943)

Our score: 9 out of 10. Yes. He's gentle, honest and endlessly curious, and he sees through grown-up nonsense. He's a little stubborn and naive, but he means well.

The Little Prince is a short, poetic fable. A pilot crashes in the Sahara and meets a small boy who asks him to draw a sheep. The boy lives alone on a tiny asteroid, where he looks after a volcano and a vain, demanding rose he loves.

He leaves his planet after tiring of the rose's moods. He visits other asteroids and meets a lonely king, a vain man, a drunkard, a businessman, a lamplighter and a geographer. Each shows him how strangely grown-ups spend their lives. On Earth he befriends a fox, who teaches him that you are responsible for what you have tamed.

We back him because he sees clearly and is sincere. He asks plain questions, notices what adults overlook, and cares deeply about the people and things in his life. He is sometimes naive and quick to take offence, but he learns and grows. He ends up as a kind of conscience for the pilot and for readers.

His story ends with a bittersweet departure. He chooses to go back to his rose and takes a mysterious route home, leaving the pilot comforted and changed.