A pilot stranded in the desert awakes one morning to see standing before him the most extraordinary little fellow Please asks the stranger draw me a sheep & the pilot realizes that when life's events are too difficult to understand there is no choice but to succumb to their mysteries He pulls out pencil & paper Thus begins this wise & enchanting fable that in teaching the secret of what is really important in life has changed the world forever for its readers Often seen as a symbol of childhood innocence Antoine de Saint-Exupery's best-selling book The Little Prince is cherished by children & adults alike across the globe Ideal for children aged 7 & up This beautiful edition contains the definitive translation & all the original illustrations The Little Prince joins the ranks of A Little Princess The Secret Garden & Peter Pan as a genuine children's classic of the twentieth century Antoine De Saint-Exupery was born in 1900 in Lyon In 1921 he began his training as a pilot By 1926 he had became one of the pioneers of international postal flight In 1945 he embarked on a record-breaking attempt to fly from Paris to Saigon Nineteen hours into the flight his plane crashed in the Sahara desert He survived the crash but spent three days battling dehydration limited food & hallucinations On the fourth day the was rescued In part this experience was the inspiration for ' The Little Prince' He continued to fly until World War II during which he took self-imposed exile On 31 July 1944 he disappeared over the Mediterranean while flying a reconnaissance mission