SOURCE: "I Never Met a Rose: Stanley Donen and The Little Prince," in Children's Novels and the Movies, edited by Douglas Street, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co, 1983, pp. 141-50.

Casper is an English educator and critic. In the excerpt below, originally published in his Stanley Donen in 1983, he compares the mixed critical reaction surrounding Saint-Exupéry's Little Prince to the similar reception of the 1974 film adaptation by Hollywood musical director Stanley Donen.

In the literary season of 1943, one of the warmest critical welcomes was accorded Antoine de Saint Exupéry's The Little Prince, a "parable for grown people in the guise of a simple story for children," as it was appropriately described by the New York Times reviewer. Only the New Yorker's critic remained aloof, claiming the piece was neither a children's book nor a good book since it lacked the simplicity and clarity all fairy tales need to...