In preparation for writing a review of The Little Prince Opera, let’s practice writing a recommendation for a movie.  In your comment, please tell us the name of the movie, evaluate the movie on a couple of criteria, and tell whether or not you recommend the movie.  Here is my example.

I recommend the movie Chocolat because the setting, plot, and cast are excellent.  This movie is set in a small, conservative village in France.  In the movie, a woman and her daughter open a chocolate shop and face some difficulties in winning over the residents of the village.  Johnny Depp, Juliette Binoche, and Judi Dench star in this movie.  This movie is based on the book, Chocolat by Joanne Harris, who is one of my favorite authors.  If you are interested in France or the drama of human relationships, then you should watch Chocolat.

What movies would you like to recommend?

Thank you for your posts and comments on our IES Book and Literature Circle Blog! This is a great way to continue discussing the book throughout the week and for the various literature circle groups to interact with one another! This past week, the Little Prince left his planet and began his journey from one planet to the next. Along the way, he met various characters, such as the drunkard, vain man, businessman, and geographer. Each group had a different interpretation about the characters and their meaning. Read on and share your opinion! I’m looking forward to our interaction!!

There are many images of the Little Prince on the Internet; here is just a sampling! In fact, Japan has a few interesting connections to this book — do you know what they are?

The characters in this section, except the Lamplighter, represent adults thoughts and attitudes.  For example, the King is kind of human ego, the Businessman represents to gain money or benefit, so in this story, the stars show money.  The geographer represents to be honor and the vain man represents self-loving.  So all these people represent typical adults’ attitude and idea.

The Little Prince learned from the geographer that the flower is ephemeral and weak.  He regrets about the flower.  In our opinion, the Little Prince should go back to his planet in order to protect the flower, if he is worried about her.

Why did the Little Prince continue his journey though he was worried about the flower?

By Midori, Ayaka, Shogo, and Mai

The businessman was very busy to calculate.  He has a lot of money.  He is satisfied with placing money in the bank.  Is he happy or unhappy?

Azusa said that he is unhappy because he doesn’t have a chance to use it.  Kaori said that he is happy because he likes to calculate and make money.  Mami said that he doesn’t have a feeling of happiness or unhappiness because he is so busy.

What do you think?

By Momo and Kaori

Every grown-up thinks they should be independent or strong, but actually they feel lonely at the same time. They can’t show their weakness or real feelings, so they want to run away from themselves. For example, the drunkard always drinks to forget his weakness because he should solve his weakness by himself.

The gentleman also wants to run away from his reality of dying. He wants to believe unchanging, such as mountains, rivers, and oceans. Both of them want to show their deep feelings, but they are grown-ups, so they can’t do that.

Have you every wanted to run away from your real like? If so, what’s your solution?

By Yuki, Ayumi, Akimi, and Nanako

Everyone is lonely and works to forget the loneliness.  They make themselves busy and complain about business.

The King is a contradictory person because he seems to be knowledgeable and he wants to be reasonable king, but he can’t follow his words.

The author has a negative view of this world.  He wants to argue social issues through his imaginary planet to compare with the earth.  Every character represents people on earth.  The Little Prince iss disappointed at them.  We think the Little Prince is visible only for the person who lost child mind.  Therefore, losing child mind makes people lonely.

Is the earth a negative world for you?

By Kento, Satomi, Shiho, Keiko, and Takayuki

We talked about who is the silliest character. Each character has his own irony for the grown-ups. We though geographer has narrow mind. He can only hear what he wants. He is studying about mountain, but he didn’t experience mountain, so he can’t write about real mountain.

I searched The Little Prince. There are a lot of secret ironies. I found what the number 516, 612, 731 means. It might mean the sum of the countries’ population which occurred in WWI? So, we think this book is interesting to find secret. [need citation]

What kind of irony is there in this book? What is the most important thing for adult person?

By Yuto, Saori, Marina, Hiroshi, and Yum

There is a drunkard in this book.  He drank a lot to forget something ashames, and we were very interested in that, so we discussed about it.  We sometimes see this kind of adult.  Why do they drink instead of other activity to forget something?

Mami said it is easy to do because they drink while eating, and eating is our habit.  Moreover, they are busy so they have no time do do sports.  Azusa said they drink alone a home, not outside.

Then, what do you think about this?

By Azusa and Mami

Mami and Momo commented on the difference between the way children and adults perceive appearances.

Grown-ups don’t believe the man who looks strange. They tend to mind appearances. In this story, Turkish astronomer, who had made a formal demonstration of his discovery at the Congress, but no one had believed him because of his strange clothes. Then, he showed his demonstration again, wearing a very elegant suit and everyone believed him. So, the appearance is important for grown-ups.

First appearance is also important for grown ups. On page 1, there is a picture of a hat. If grown-ups know it’s not hat, but elephant and boa constrictor, they can’t accept and change the mind. They don’t change that impression easily.

On the other hand, children don’t mind about appearance. However, recently, children also mind appearance, for example, fashion, cosmetic, another sex person. Maybe, they are influenced by grown ups. What do you think?

Photo credit: Le petit prince 星の王子さま The Little Prince.  Originally uploaded by ivva

Here is what Keiko, Kento, Takayuki, Satomi, and Shiho had to say about The Little Prince after reading pages 1-27 of the book.

The narrator was disappointed by the ideas from adults. He was influenced by it and unconsciously he was becoming like an adult. But he met Little Prince and he was influenced by his ideas, learned a lot, and was going back to child again. The Little Prince showed up for him to change him. The narrator was kinda in hell because of the adult, but unconsciously he had a child feeling which make Little Prince show up.

We think the Little Prince is invisible for other people except for the narrator. The Little Prince came from the narrator to change him. Unconsciously the narrator was becoming adult, but he wanted to go back to child idea. That’s why the Little Prince came. He could be narrator’s imagination. That’s why we think other people can’t see Little Prince.

Even if the narrator met Little Prince for the first time, the Little Prince was rude asking questions, without introducing himself. The Little Prince was haughty, so the narrator was irritated. He had a lot of knowledge compared to the Little Prince, so he thought if he says that he fell out from the plane into the sky, the Little Prince will be surprised. But the Little Prince was just laughing and said, “That’s funny.” This is kind of ironic.

What is your response to the question about if the Little Prince is invisible or not?

Photo credit: the little prince.  Originally uploaded by thespeak