Cocoa Book Club Book of the Month: The Little Prince

Hello, hello again, all you glorious book clubbers! It's that time again for another super-sweet novel to be chosen for the Cocoa Book Club's Book of the Month! This month, our pick comes from a reader and blogger of her own - a superhero of a girl who goes only by My Stifled Laughter. Hmmm...mysterious, huh? 

Her pick for this month? It's a darling children's book called Le Petit Prince (or The Little Prince in English) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - a harrowing novella filled with drama and romance that I think only she can fully explain.

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On the little prince's planet, he loved a rose and sheltered her and gave her water and such. He left to "find himself" and comes to Earth and sees a large bed of roses, who look the same as his lovely rose.

"You're lovely, but you're empty... One couldn't die for you. of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she is the one I watered. Since she's the one I put under the glass. Since she's the one I sheltered behind a screen. She's the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three for butterflies). Since she's the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she's my rose."

The book is a children's book, but not to be scorned - it is magical, thought-provoking, exciting at times, melancholy at others, questioning of the ways people nowadays live their lives and what love means to different people. Orginially written in French, the book translates literally and figuratively to the world - all concepts are understood by the reader, no matter if they're French, American, Austrailian, or Anarctican. The idea that children enjoy life and the world more than adults is there.

One of my personal favorite concepts of the book is the author's explanation of love. (As in the quote before.) For instance, if you saw my boyfriend walking in the street, he would look the same as every other boy in the world to you. But to me, that boy is many afternoons spent together, emotional times, anniversaries, and love. People are special to you because of the time you spend on them, and that's what makes them so precious - once they're gone, they are lost - you cannot replicate a friend.

The book is translated into "Le Petit Prince" but to those who have not the French skills, the English version is just as good! And after you have read it, answer this... Has the sheep eaten the flower yet?

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Both the English and French versions can be purchased on Amazon and it's also available for preview on Google Books - I highly recommend that you give it a read because it sounds like an absolutely spellbinding book!

Now if you've got a spectacular, inspirational, or just plain wicked cool book in mind and would like to volunteer to be a Super Secret Book Clubber, send me an e-mail with your name, e-mail address, and blog (if applicable) and I'll get in contact with you ASAP! In the meantime, make like LeVar Burton and keep reading!

Always,

Penelope ♥