The Little Prince: Great Books Explained

The Little Prince begins with an account of how the pilot drew a picture when he was a child. His picture — he called it Drawing N°1 — shows an elephant swallowed by a boa constrictor — perfectly logical to him- but to adults it was just a drawing of a hat and they roundly mocked him.
When his plane crash-lands in the desert and the little prince appears at his side, asking him to draw a sheep and then declaring himself unsatisfied with the results, the pilot brings out his Drawing N°1. “No, no, no!” says the little prince, “ And this, the pilot tells us, is how he finally found someone who understood his drawing, and how he made the acquaintance of the little prince.

I would like to thank all my Patreon supporters, in particular Alan Stewart, Alexander Velser, Alyssa Phillips, AMSN, Anja Zeutschel, Bria Nicole Art, David Asabreu, Christa Sawyer, Eric Mann, Erique K, Francis Song, Griffin Evans, Hugo Moita, Jemma Theivendran, John Baer, Jon Hanzen, Julio Cardenas, Karim Hopper, Kibibi Shaw, Louise Tait, Monte St Johns, New Curiosity, Paul Ark, Paul Waterman, Sagar Saxena, Sean Welgemoed, Stefan Paisson, Stephen Beresford, Tanya Moore, Theresa Garfink, Toni Ko, Tyler Wittreich, and Will Dew's-Power.

"What a brilliant series this is" - Stephen Fry on Twitter

SUBTITLES

Spanish Subtitles by Alma Perdomo (Gracias!)

CREDITS

Actor: Skander Long
Sound engineer (Paris): Nathaniel Long
Sound Engineer (UK): Robert Lewis

Extra Voices (Draw me a Sheep)
Swedish: Petter Wallenberg
German: Maria Holzamer
Spanish: Eve Hand
Persian: Fariba Sanaï
French: Skander Long

VIDEOS
All the videos, songs, images, and graphics used in the video belong to their respective owners and I or this channel do not claim any right over them.

MUSIC

Jeux d'Eau by Ravel
Music from the site

You can find all their productions on Youtube and soundcloud
/ musiqueslibrededroit

FILMS
The Little Prince (2016) - ©Paramount Pictures
The Little Prince (1974) - ©Paramount Pictures
The Little Prince (1966) - ©Arunas Zebriunas
The Little Prince (1979)

BOOKS
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

[greatbooksexplained]

Please ‘like’ and leave a comment (however short) - it really helps promote this channel - thanks for your amazing support, James!

[laura-ann.]

My father gave me a copy when I was about 8 years old. I am now 67, and it is only now that I understand the message the author was trying to convey. A very simple message, but it took the loss of my wife to congestive heart failure in 2013, to open me up to understanding it on a gut level: Life is ephemeral. The time that you share with your loved ones is the only thing of true value. In your last moment, your memories of the love you shared will be all you will take with you.

[b.sylphaen]

I always tear up when I think of The Little Prince. I teared up every time I read the book, I teared up with every movie adaptation I saw, I teared up with this video. Thank you for making it.

[seriouslywhatever]

It's almost comical how many plane crashes he was in.

[AmalijaKomar]

My late grandmother was trying to explain this book to me. She said that Little Prince is not a sad book. For me, it was, of course, he died in the end. Now I realize that he just grew up.

[hellyeah_ellajane]

I read this as a child and thought it was sorta dumb. I revisited it in my late 20s and was left in tears (both happy and sad), immediately turning to the front page and reading it all over again.

I left it on the table at the coffee shop I was reading at so someone else could enjoy it too.

[Donna-cckt]

Perfect. My daughter painted a scene with the little boy and the Fox with words that said the line in the book about being responsible for the rose. It’s an incomplete painting as she was quite good with art but her hands wouldn’t let her finish it to a final polish. It’s on a roughly made but new bird house. It’s my treasure as she died at 33. She knew she was going to die and left me with lovely memories of her inner beauty. I wouldn’t sell that bird house for a million. It was her story. A life lived as best one could. Thank you, your video was perfect.

[rosettathompson]

How have I reached 70+ years of age and have never read this book?! Will rectify immediately! Thank you for introducing classics in literature.

[matthewbbenton]

If you don’t cry when the fox asks the Little Prince to tame him, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m tearing up just thinking about it.

[infesta]

One of the most beautiful books ever written. Your video does it justice, James. Thank you.

[missjoshemmett]

I was born in 1946. My Grandmother sent me my first book as a present for learning to read in 1949. I still have it in 2024. Books are still my friends and have seen me through good/bad times.

[venice]

This channel has turned out to be just as valuable as Great Art Explained. Thank you so much for another wonderful video.

[fashionlover]

I wish I could give a hundred likes. "The little prince" is the book I always give as a gift to the people I meet and fall in love.

[Alexis_-_]

That ending line got me. One of those lines where even if you've read it many times before, it can still bring you to tears. A timeless book about human nature. Seems truer than ever that people don't have friends because they can't buy them in the shop. Thanks for another beautiful, fascinating video.

[TheDkbohde]

I can’t quite put the words together without sounding sappy but I really appreciate your work. Thank you. Always calms me down and puts me in a good mood. Helping stoke my growing appetite for art and my long standing love for books. Match made in heaven for me.

Edit… I just ordered a copy.

[secondsflat]

Please make more of these videos. Really love the artistry in creating them, and bringing the books to life

[austinfreyrikrw]

So true, "it is only with the heart that one can see rightly". 🦊 And my heart tells me this is a great video ❤

[WillLiang]

Please do "Great Films Explained" and give the internet this trifecta it deserves!

[charu]

Thank you for this video. Its funny how out of all the books I have read, a little children's book ended up being my all time favourite. The little prince is very close to my heart and I end up crying every time reading it

[cutielovely]

How serendipitous! I had never read The Little Prince before, and this year I set myself to reading more classics. I just finished it 2 days ago. Very good timing on this very good video.