Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born in 1900 in Lyons France. He completed his early education in France and Switzerland. Unable to clear his final exam at a university preparatory school he enrolled himself at the École des Beaux-Arts to study Architecture. After failing the entrance exam for the Naval Academy he decided to go for aviation. In 1921 he joined the French Air Force where he first learned to fly a plane. Five years later he left the French Air Force to begin flying air mail between remoter settlements in the Sahara desert. When World War II broke out Saint-Exupéry rejoined the French Air Force. After Nazi troops occupied France in 1940 Saint-Exupéry fled to the United States. He had hoped to join the U.S. war effort as a fighter pilot but was turned down because of his age. Instead he drew upon his experiences in the Sahara desert to write and illustrate what would become his most famous book The Little Prince (1943). Shortly after completing the book Saint-Exupéry returned to North Africa to fly a warplane for his country. On July 31 1944 Saint-Exupéry took off on a mission. He was never seen again.
<p>A young aviator crashes his plane in the middle of nowhere. In the isolation of the blistering sand dunes he meets a strange little boy – the little prince. Over the next ten days as the aviator tries to fix his plane he gradually learns the little prince?s extraordinary stories of his own tiny planet his beloved rose the serious threat of baobabs and many more.</p>
