The Return of The Little Prince

My book, The Return of The Little Prince, is a sequel to the marvelous and whimsical story of my uncle Antoine De Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince, where myth and poetry mix with reality and speak to us of the eternal in such an innocent manner.  Both his story and mine are true.  They are real stories of a quest to find that invisible spark of life which gives meaning to all there is.

I learned the story from within, it was my aunt Consuelo De Saint-Exupery, an extraordinary person and the inspiration of Saint-Ex, the Rose of his story, who taught me to read, not only French in The Little Prince, but the essence of it as well.  She talked to me about Saint-Ex, his dream world, of his airplane flights, of his moonstruck reveries, his airplane falls and the spirit that helped him survive them!  Everything in that book was an integral part of what later happened to me and helped me to find that secret that now illumines my life.

I remember. . . when I was a little girl, maybe six years old, I learned to read. . . know. . . and love the Little Prince.  Later on, I learned that many others also did; it was, I believe, the bedside book of James Dean.  I never knew him personally, but I read in an interview of a movie magazine that he said The Little Prince was his Bible. . . and I wondered if what drew him to it was the same thing that I loved about it?  What I loved best was the invisible hidden in between such simple words and its childlike drawings, for concealed behind the fairytale there was a road map to a true spiritual experience.

Whenever I read the last page of my uncle's book, I was moved by his sadness and felt a sense of urgency within me to find that lonely star landscape.  So, I promised myself that one day I would find the Little Prince and let Saint-Ex know that he was back.  Consequently, since early in life, I learned to close my eyes, open my heart and. . . began my quest.  This tale is the fruit of my search.  It has a happy ending as all good fairy tales have, for it happened that one day. . . when I least expected it. . . I found the Little Prince!

Thus, I wrote this book, both as a direct answer to my uncle's plea, to share the good news with all those who love The Little Prince and as an invitation to quest to all those who long to find their reality.

I have followed the same format of my uncle's book and also utilized the same style of drawings, wrapping my own story of how I searched and found the Little Prince with as much similarity as possible to that of his book, for a very good reason:  I couldn't have done it in any other way, for I have loved The Little Prince since I was a child.  My reason has been one of love, not arrogance, so please exempt me from the harshness of comparison if you are inclined to do so.

A true world citizen, Ysatis De Saint-Simon was born in a transatlantic coming from Europe to America.  The daughter of a French diplomat and a Spanish mother, she was exposed since an early age to people who enriched her cultural and spiritual bank of knowledge.

Her aunt, widow of the famed French pilot-writer, Antoine De Saint-Exupery, who wrote The Little Prince, of which her book The Return of the Little Prince is a sequel, was a great influence in her life.

Her uncle's book, The Little Prince, has been published in 120 languages and has been a worldwide best seller since it was published until today.  De Saint-Simon explains that, behind the apparent children's fairy tale of De Saint-Exupery, there is a hidden Treasure that needs to be found in order to comprehend, not only the story, but Life itself and that De Saint-Exupery feared greatly that his book would be taken lightly. The Little Prince is a true story, a true experience of how he found that hidden gift which gives meaning to all there is.

Ysatis grew up knowing that, hidden behind that which is apparent, there is a forgotten Treasure.  A Treasure that makes life special and gives whomever finds It the secret of their true identity, and she set up to search for It.  When she found it, she wrote The Return of The Little Prince, a sequel to the book she loved so much and which helped to unveil that hidden world to her.  Her whimsical story is also a true experience.  Her true story, which she hopes may be a ray of light to illumine other searchers and help them to find that hidden world of light.