The Little Prince

October 2, 2000
Young Osment (The Sixth Sense; Pay It Forward) again proves his mettle as an actor, giving voice to the Little Prince in this crisp, full-cast production of the literary classic. He approaches the role with a gentleness and sensitivity that touches the heart and never sounds maudlin. As the pilot whose plane has crashed in the Sahara, Gere plays it low-key, creating a perfect partner for Osment's interplanetary-traveling, wise-beyond-his-years prince. Gere expresses just the right mix of amusement and bewilderment as the prince interrupts the pilot's efforts to repair his plane with a request that he draw a sheep. The adept performances capture the timeless nature of Saint-Exup ry's fable about how a child sees the important things in life much more clearly than many adults do. All ages. (Dec.) FYI: Last year marked the 100th anniversary of Saint-Exup ry's birth.

November 16, 2009
This unabridged edition of the classic story about the prince from a tiny planet “hardly bigger than a house” integrates the original illustrations into pop-ups, wheels, and flaps. The text is gracefully balanced against the interactive elements as the Prince shares his story: flaps reveal images like the drawing of a sheep that the narrator makes for him, and delicate pop-ups feature characters he's met, like the clownlike lamp lighter. The pleasing visual effects are subtle, but add an appropriate sense of magic. Ages 9–12.

April 1, 2003
Many old friends revisit readers in handsome new volumes. Always welcome is that charming visitor from another planet, Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. A 60th-anniversary gift edition features a cloth slipcase, a satin ribbon bookmark and a bookplate. The fable remains as lyrically haunting as ever in Richard Howard's new (2000) translation.