With the outbreak of World War II, Saint-Exupéry was involved with Air France and wrote engaged pieces focused on the social and political shifts in Spain and the Soviet Union. This event informed his 1939 memoir, Wind, Sand and Stars, as well as The Little Prince. After several days of mirages and dehydration, the Bedouin saved the men. In 1935, while competing in a Paris-to-Saigon air race, Saint-Exupéry and his mechanic, André Prévot, crashed in the Libyan desert and wondrously survived. This fame was followed by the publishing of his second novel, Night Flight in 1931, which brought the author a major French literary prize, the Prix Femina award. After his first novel, Southern Mail was published in 1929, Saint-Exupéry gained immediate recognition as a writer. Years before his writing career blossomed, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was an active aviator and one of the pioneers of international postal flight. The Backdrop of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Little Prince Purchased on the Elisabeth Ball Fund, 1968 / Right: Cammey - Flying men and The Little Parisian. Estate of Saint Exupéry – d'Agay © Photo: The Morgan Library & Museum. Watercolour, ink and pencil on paper © Coll. Left: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - The little prince digging up baobab shoots, 1942. The current exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, titled An Encounter with the petit prince, brings together an outstanding selection of drawings, watercolours, sketches, papers, photographs, poems, newspaper clippings and correspondence that shed new light on the book and different facets of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's life. In fact, the author created a beautiful story about humanity centred on a young prince's journey across the planet Earth. Written during the WW II, this epic book is as a romantic vision of de Saint-Exupéry's own experiences as a pilot. One of such literary pieces that affects both children and adults is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince.

Some books made such a powerful impact on the way generations have observed the world and approached life.

Books the little prince