On This Day, June 29

Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry,  French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist, and pioneering aviator, was born near Lyon, France on June 29, 1900. As an author, he is best remember for  his novella The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) and for his lyrical aviation writings, including Wind, Sand and Stars and Night Flight. Saint-Exupéry was a successful commercial pilot before World War II, working airmail routes in Europe, Africa and South America. At the outbreak of war, he joined the French Air Force (Armée de l’Air), flying reconnaissance missions until France’s armistice with Germany in 1940. He eventually joined the Free French Air Force in North Africa, although he was far past the maximum age for such pilots and in declining health. Antoine disappeared over the Mediterranean on a reconnaissance mission in July 1944, and is believed to have died at that time. Find the little prince at the library, on hoopla and in OverDrive.

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