The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Moral allegory and spiritual autobiography, The Little Prince is the most translated book in the French language. With a timeless charm it tells the story of a little boy who leaves the safety of his own tiny planet to travel the universe, learning the vagaries of adult behavior through a series of extraordinary encounters. His personal odyssey culminates in a voyage to Earth and further adventures.

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I honestly don't know what to make of this one. It is a very interesting story, which can be read very differently depending entirely on how old you are when you read it. Seen through the eyes of a child, the story is full of wonder and adventure. It is warning to young adults to hold on to that "child-like wonder" and creativity. There is also an element of sadness as the adults in the book seem to have lost any sense of curiosity, focused only on their mundane "adult" tasks.

When the story is considered in light of Saint-Exupéry's life, it certainly appears autobiographical. A young boy flies off to have an adventure, only to lose his innocence along the way. He knows that he can never return to the life he has...perhaps he even dies? Not far from the author who dreamed of being a pilot and adventure, only to experience an end to innocence at the hands of war.

I feel like this is a book that I will have to read several more times before I can formulate a more concrete opinion.

2015 Reading Challenge: A book that was originally written in a different language