The Little Prince. The Planet of People

The «Little Prince», which appeared on April 6, 1943, published by «Reynal & Hitchcock», spoke English and only some time later, thanks to the same publishers, began to speak French.
So who was he — an American or a Frenchman? The «Little Prince» was conceived, drawn, and written in the United States during 1942. The book was a commission; it was supposed to become a Christmas tale for American children, and then for French children, to comfort them a little and distract them, some from the looming threat of war, others from its real hardships.
All of this is true, but there is something else. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry categorically refused to learn English, and as early as 1939 was writing a wonderful book for children that was planned to be published in France at a printing house in Tours. But the bombing of Tours in 1940 changed everything.
However, starting in 1946 — the date of the first French (and posthumous) edition of the «Little Prince» — the «poetic tale» has been translated into 210 languages and sold in millions of copies in all countries.
Included in the collection is also «The Planet of People», published in 1939, awarded a major prize by the French Academy and named «Best Book of the Year» by the American Booksellers Association. However, the cinematic version of the book, which Jean Renoir was eager to create, never materialized.