HAIKU

Like a dusty book
Neglected, lost and forgot;
My pages yellowed.

Lying at the back
of the dirty storeroom shelf
I rotted away

Six years slowly passed;
The door suddenly opened!
Two hands dragged me out.

"Open up!" They cried -
My father and stepmother -
"Give us what we want!"

They tried to dust me,
clean me up and pamper me.
How mercenary.

My smile became tears...
I am a girl, not a book
They can go to hell.

 
The Little Prince
Wow, did an 11-year-old write this book review? Pretty impressive...

This thought provoking allegory of the human condition is about a lost airman and a little boy.

The boy, who is from another planet, tells the airman all about his intergalactic travels and how the different adults on different planets view the world.

It reflects on the stereotype of adults living in the world today, especially powerful, business-like intellectuals who spend all their time working, working, working. From the boy's point of view, they are all mushrooms.

The book also talks about uniqueness through friendship. A person may just be like any other person living on earth. To others, we are like a million other people. But if we make friends, we would be unique to each other.

Towards the end of the book, when the boy has to return to his planet, he tells the airman that since there are so many stars in the sky, they mean different things to different people.

For some they are nothing more than twinkling lights in the sky. For travellers they are guides. For scholars they are food for thought. For businessmen they are wealth.

This story is rich in imagery and punctuated with light fillips of humour and will appeal to both children and adults.

By Ang Jing Wei of Mayflower Primary School