I know I'm 25 (almost 26) years old but this legitimately reads so formatively to me. It's so intelligent in a way that's not condescending, as well as introspective, that I'm so glad young readers were able to grow up with it, and hopefully are still growing up with it. This is what literature for young audiences should be like! It made me think so much about what we as adults place so much importance in. I think children should be exposed to this way of thinking at their age as well. It challenges a lot of very important conformist beliefs about society that we are conditioned to believe in and accept unquestioningly.

It's very rare for me to cry with books (or any piece of media, really) but this one did make me cry. I only read it for the first time this year, just reread it today, and it still left its mark on me. Genuinely deserving of its hype and reputation. I especially love the illustrations because they're so simplistic yet the subject matter is so complex. They're also very charming in their own way even if perhaps they aren't as "technical," I'm not sure what the apt term here would be because I'm not an artist.

I feel like it deserves countless rereads at various times in your life, especially low points. The part when the little prince talks about how he likes watching sunsets when he's sad, and the pilot asks him if that day when he saw all those sunsets whether he was sad, getting no reply, is actually when I cried. I have been going through a deep depression and this book did lift my spirits a lot. That's what I love about children's literature, at least children's literature like this, because it appeals to all ages and speaks to us all in different ways depending on what stage of life we're in.