The Little Prince GN

Joann Sfar & Antione de Saint-Exupery

Joann Sfar's The Little Prince graphic novel adapts the classic children's story by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, retaining much of the whimsy and magic of the original story.  I never read the prose version of The Little Prince when I was a child, so perhaps that's why the story never really meant much to me.  It's kind of meandering, following a pilot who's trying to repair his plane in a dessert and meets a small boy who recalls his adventures on his little planet and floating through space meeting strange people.  It's kind of a sad tale, and a little weird for kids, but I can see why a lot of people really enjoy this tale - I just wasn't really struck by it.  This graphic novel by Joann Sfar, however, really does work well with the story by Saint-Exupery, bringing it to life in a cinematic way with his loose, cartoony art that really captures the whimsical tone of the prose story.  Joann Sfar is kind of the perfect choice to adapt the story for the medium, and his use of colors, and the designs he creates for the odd creatures and people in the story, really jive well with the story.  I would say that this is a very successful adaptation, faithful to the source material, even if The Little Prince isn't one of my personal favorite children's stories.