What Age Group Should Read The Little Prince Book?

There’s something delightfully sneaky in The Little Prince. At first glance it’s a small, simply told story about a young Prince who travels from planet to planet and meets various strange creatures. A children’s book. But secretly it’s so much more. For someone in their mid-twenties and above who still keeps dog-eared books on their subway seat this is a wonderful story for so many different reasons. The smallest children of around 6-9yrs will enjoy this because of the beautiful, quirky drawings and the simple, story-like chapters which follow on from one another in a sweet episodic style. The sentences are very short and so easy to follow, read aloud to friends who don’t have time to commit to bigger books. It’s a great ‘little read’ on a rainy afternoon.

Those additional layers also make The Little Prince a very different sort of read for a 13-year-old or older reader. I can remember where I was in my life when I read particular lines and passages of this book, and how they had affected me. That section of The Little Prince where the main character describes how grown-ups are unable to see or care about anything outside of numbers and other sorts of details? Or the gentle, merciful scene where the fox teaches the Little Prince how to truly Tame something? For me, that sort of material is the epitome of a readable and engaging book that is also Philosophical. That sort of profound, beautiful writing resonates deeply with an older reader who is attempting to figure out life, and can leave them feeling both forever young and solemn at the same time. This is the type of book to read more than once throughout the years as one’s ability to understand its deeper meanings evolves.

My own copy of The Little Prince is a rather delicate looking book which I keep on a rather crowded shelf between much heavier volumes. But this is a light, honest book and I frequently find myself selecting it over far more complex novels. As for when to read The Little Prince to your children, it’s best to read the story to them early and then encourage them to re-read it as they get older. It’s one of those rather special books that continues to give the reader lots to think about long after they’ve finished reading it.

It’s funny. Looking through the pages of The Little Prince now in my thirties after a series of slow building responsibilities and small losses I see it as a shifting mirror. What you bring to the book is as important as the printed words on the page. For children The Little Prince can be a first read on their own when they are around 8-10 years old and can handle somewhat abstract ideas. In my experience children younger than this can also enjoy The Little Prince but they will need to be read by an adult and discussion and ideas can be explored using the short chapters as discussion points and ideas for creative writing.

The few somewhat ambiguous sections of The Little Prince will likely give teenagers (13–18) and adults plenty to ponder, including the main character’s loneliness, his very perceptive criticism of the most important concerns of grown-ups, and various philosophical musings. As for myself, I have re-read sections of The Little Prince on several occasions when I needed to remind myself of the lessons to be learned from this very perceptive book on the nature of human relationships and failures, large and small. It is perhaps most meaningful to readers who have experienced their share of heartbreak and/or transition, and who, as a result, can appreciate the full depth of the special little relationships in our lives and the lessons that this simple yet exceptional book has to offer.

Reading The Little Prince out loud to a group of people of different ages is wonderful. We stopped along the way to discuss, to draw the fox, and to write a few small letters. As a bedtime story for children, as a reading in a classroom of pre-teens, as a small companion for adults, The Little Prince is wonderful to read again and again and every time it will be different. As long as you read it as a child when you want to have fun, later as a teenager or adult to go deeper into it, you will be fine.

If I am to think of 'The Little Prince' through the lense of someone who talks about bedtime stories, library clubs and so on, then just about everyone will have read 'The Little Prince' at some stage. However, they will have read it at different stages of their lives. For very young children (4-7) 'The Little Prince' is a great read-aloud book. It has a very calm narrator, the illustrations are simple but wonderful and it is a really episodic structure which means that children with short attention spans can easily follow along. I have read 'The Little Prince' to children as young as 4 and sat on the floor with them as they giggled at the little prince's sometimes silly questions and then became silent as the fox spoke.

When 8–12 year olds read The Little Prince themselves, the best thing is that they will come up with unexpected questions to discuss, like those of very young children but with more insight. Also at this age children can start to see how adults behave in the story and make links with their own experiences of grown-ups who may appear strange or illogical. A lot of discussion at this age can focus on values like responsibility, measuring people by numbers rather than their individual worth, and celebrating small acts of kindness and beauty. Older children, teenagers and adults will find lots to ponder in this very small but extremely rich and deep book.

For shared reading of The Little Prince I would generally look for a clear and readable translation and ideally an edition with the original watercolour illustrations by Saint-Exupéry. For activities linked to chapters, I would ask readers to think about one thing that they would do or make on their own little planet. For solo readers re-reading The Little Prince at different stages of life, I would recommend reading it with a journal by their side to capture new thoughts and insights as they occur. The real sweet spot for reading The Little Prince is not a specific age but when the reader is ready to read and discuss the big questions that it poses. Read it once for fun and then again with greater insight when the book has had time to affect how you think about things.