Rating: 
Summary: Moving and Funny
Review: Having been given this book by a friend who was leaving to return home to live in Australia, i was somewhat suprised at what looked like a childrens book being proferred as a good-bye present. This soon changed. The story is a gentle tale, dealing with perceptions and friendship, loss and hope. Everyone who reads this book seems to take something different from it, be it adults or children. Katherine Woods's translation is the only one i have read, but i feel compelled to draw parallels to the Paulo Coelho book, The Alchemist, in that it is without doubt an inspirational read
Rating: 
Summary: a children's book in disguise
Review: You can read it to a child, but this is definitely not a children's book; you can have a long discussion about it with fellow adult friends. There are so many deeper meanings and inferences behind everything. It gets you thinking, the simultaneous simplicity and complexicity of the book stays with you; after finishing you might think it a bit haunting.
Easily read in one sitting, it captivates you because you have so many questions in your head and you just have to know what happens next. The author's 1-page biography is also captivating, and only makes the story more meaningful.
Rating: 
Summary: WARNING WARNING!!
Review: I almost bought the new translation for a friend who had never read the little prince!! Fortunately I read through it first. OUCH! It reads NOTHING like the original; the beauty and simplicity of the reading has been replaced by something that seems written for a first grade reader. (Maybe its more readable for first graders, but not for those who care about words...).I actually went home and read my original to make sure I wasn't imagining the difference (maybe it wasn't as good as I remembered!) Caveat Emptor!! BFM
Rating:
Summary: Inadequate translation
Review: I have read the original French version and both English translations, and I must agree with those who say that Howard's translation is terrible. His version loses all the charm of the original work. As I was reading it, I already thought this new translation proved to be quite pointless, but then I came upon the passage concerning the picture of the baobabs. The original adjective used by Saint-Exupery was "grandiose," which holds basically the same meaning as it does in English. Woods translated this as "magnificent and impressive," but Howard! Oh, Howard replaced this with "big." I'm assuming he mistakenly read this word as "grand," which does mean big, but his proofreading should have caught that. The rest of his translation does not sink quite to this level, but it does not nearly match that of Woods. At least she managed to retain some of Saint-Exupery's magic.
I'm also offended that the publishers would try to replace Woods's classic translation with one that has language they consider to be more modern. Le Petit Prince was written in the 1940s with what would assumedly be French of the 1940s. Thus, wouldn't it make sense to keep it in English of the 1940s?
PLEASE do your best to find Woods's translation. Do not let Howard taint your image of The Little Prince! Beware of this new translation!
Rating: 
Summary: Read J.V.'s review
Review: The review by J.V. is a must-read if you're considering buying this translation. Save yourself the trouble of Howard's translation, and head to a used bookstore. I have read "The Little Prince" in its original French, and while Katherine Woods' translation is at times too literal, Howard's version is absolutely appalling. I once bought it for a friend without having read it, and seriously considered returning it because it was just that bad. "The Little Prince" is my favorite book, but is not worth the money in this "improved" translation.
Rating:
Summary: Part fable, part philosophy and pure fun!!
Review: A satire on adulthood, this book is like a cosmic 'Gulliver's Travels'. Some have tried to dismiss it as merely a bedtime story for adults, but to do so is to miss its profound message. This message resonates at the deepest levels of the human experience --- be a kid again! See the world through unjaded eyes.... With kernals of wisdom like: "What is essential is invisible", it touches the very soul of the reader. Antoine de Saint-Exupery has become something of a literary saint due to the enduring popularity of this work. The fact that he mysteriously disappeared in a small plane he was piloting almost 60 years ago only adds to his mystique. Whatever your literary leanings, this book should be required reading for EVERYONE!
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece which improves with time
Review: I just re-read "The Little Prince" yesterday and was amazed to see how much real gold there is in this book. The part where the fox talks about "how to tame a fox" may be one of the most brilliant things ever written. The concluding paragraphs are also among the finest words ever written. Don't miss this book! There's a reason why it's been translated into a hundred languages and is always in print, and the reason is simple: it touches your heart, speaks of important things, and reminds us of the truly important things in life. Highest possible recommendation! (You may prefer the original Katherine Woods translation.)
Rating:
Summary: the best book in the world!!!
Review: i was 14 years old and very lost when a friend who i had seen as a very wise person handed me this book to read. at first i thought eh its a chileds book, and it is if you don't READ it. when unraveling the lines and looking beyond the story into the messege i opened my eyes for the first time and saw what the world was realy about. now (as maney of my friends do) i carry this book around in my back pocket. we all have highlighted pages. this is truley the best book i have ever read in my whole life!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful tale. Flat translation.
Review: This is a wonderful book in a disappointing new translation. "The Little Prince" is one of the most beautiful, wise and significant books I've ever read. Part of the deep appreciation I have long felt towards Antoine de Saint-Exupery for writing it has now emerged, for reading this new translation by Richard Howard, as an appreciation of Katherine Woods' inspiration and insight in her (1943) rendition of the story. Publicity for the new (2000) translation criticises Woods' version as "slightly wooden or didactic." I think it could be said that, insofar as this is so, it is 'wood' with a living quality, a 'didacticism' with warmth, irony, understanding and humour, a care and gentleness lacking in Howard's version, which in comparison is rather metallic. It feels a bit of a shame that anyone would read a more mechanical interpretation when they could be reading the Woods version. It is saddening indeed to think that this new translation will actually replace Woods' in bookshops. Howard's version being widely publicised as superior to me says far more about those standing to profit from sales than it does about the nature of The Little Prince. So I write this as a small appeal to you adults. " 'Children,' I say plainly, 'watch out for the baobabs!' " Endeavouring to advise, it is easy enough to slip into fooling oneself or others in some way. Mr. Howard's own assurance in his Translator's Note to the new version, that he has surpassed Ms Woods' rendition, runs notably foul. (You may think this is just a matter of opinion. You may think I am being somewhat fussy. You will, perhaps, think like grown-ups on the issue!) The Little Prince is about feeling; feeling and the relationship of our energy and capacity for this to our changing worlds of perception. It's not easy to define the full extent of what I'm referring to in expressing my preference for, my valuing of, Woods' version over Howard's. I could speak of differences in associative power in the language used, of interplay between words and how they work within, of narrative flow and persona - one can analyse and hypothesize, but the key remains something vital and tricky to formulate, as with the impact of verbal style in Hoban's "Riddley Walker" or Mitchell's "Hog's Wholey Wash". Not that Katherine Woods' tailoring of words makes for such a challenge to read; her version of The Little Prince both reads better immediately and yields more on digestion than what we are now presented with as the "new and improved version". One might simply speak of what is felt as going to depth and echoing with a ring of magic, compared to what rings with a muted industrial clank. However true it may be to the letter of Saint-Exupery's original, Howard's version is, sure as eggs is eggs, not as true as Woods' to the spirit of The Little Prince.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing Short of a Classic
Review: That it is written at a children's vocabulary and comprehension level is just one more reason why it is such a classic. You can read it when you're 10 and get a valuable lesson from it, and then read it again when you're 30 and find something new. It is a book that should probably be read once every couple years--just to find out who you are and whether you're getting too old.
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