The Pilot and the Little Prince

h1 June 3rd, 2014 by jules


“Long ago in France, at the turn of the last century,
a little boy was born to be an adventurer.”


 

I’ve seen a small handful of picture books thus far here in 2014 that I think are truly exceptional, and today’s featured picture book is one of those.

I reviewed Peter Sís’ newest book, The Pilot and the Little Prince: The Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Farrar Straus Giroux, May 2014), over at BookPage. That review is here, and today I’m following up with some art from the book.

Enjoy.


“Eventually, Antoine returned to France. He got married. The airline he helped build went out of business, so he looked for new opportunities in life. He had become a famous pilot and a celebrated writer. Through it all he continued to fly—
for work, pleasure, and adventure.”

(Click to enlarge and see in more detail)


“From the skies, Antoine watched the fires, smoke, and destruction the Germans left in their wake as they swooped down from the north. They invaded France on May 10, 1940, and the country fell in just thirty-eight days. Antoine’s unite was ordered to North Africa and his service was over. Back in France he realized he could not live under German occupation. He fled to Lisbon to board a ship for New York and learned that his friend Guillaumet had been shot down. As Antoine sailed across the ocean under the night sky he knew he had lost his friend and his country.”
(Click to enlarge and see in more detail)


“Antoine joined his old squadron in North Africa. He asked for flights that would send him over France, where his family was living. On July 31, 1944, at 8:45 a.m.,
he took off from Borgo, Corsica, to photograph enemy positions east of Lyon.
It was a beautiful day. He was due back at 12:30.”

(Click to enlarge and see in more detail)



 
* * * * * * *

THE PILOT AND THE LITTLE PRINCE: THE LIFE OF ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY. Copyright © 2014 by Peter Sís. Published by Farrar Straus Giroux, New York. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher.





4 comments to “The Pilot and the Little Prince

  1. I quite enjoy your blog. You are constantly alerting me to new books to keep my eye out for, (or old books I missed) this book by Peter Sis being one of them. I wish you had a little linky here so I could just click and tweet and share your posts from this blog rather than from Bookpage. (I can still share, if it’s okay, this just means that lazy me has to generate the link myself)


  2. Thanks for the feedback! I have been meaning to add those social media links to this site. I’ll try to do that soon!


  3. Dear Da Poppins: We did it! Thanks to my husband, my personal tech support, those social media share buttons are now at the close of every post.


  4. Yay! So happy. I love to share kids books and the wonderful illustrations on twitter. The linkies will make it so much easier. Thanks!


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