★★★★★ The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
"Pourquoi un chapeau ferait-il peur?"
The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“Pourquoi un chapeau ferait-il peur?”
I don't know how many times I have read this book. My high school French teacher taught it in French IV, a course I never took, but my friends told me about it, so probably I first read it in 1974. It is, of course, a tale of extraordinary beauty and insight, as thousands of other reviews will tell you. And, inevitably, there will be some readers for whom it doesn't work. General principle -- if no one hates it, it isn't Great Art.
One reason I have read the book so many times is that, taking a hint from my old French teacher, it has become the first book I read after learning a new language. I have read it in French, Spanish, English, and German. I looked at it in Italian, but that is so similar to Spanish it seemed pointless. I started it in Russian (Project Gutenberg has two Russian translations, one from the original French, and one apparently based on the English translation), but my Russian never progressed to the point of being able to read an entire book, even one as short as this. I have a Japanese translation on my bookshelf and hope to read it one day.