Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased this 70th anniversary gift set in honor of St. Exupery, since I taught this book for years as a means of teaching allegory to high school students. However, I used the MUCH superior Katherine Woods translation. This anniversary set is an insult to both St. Exupery and the Little Prince himself. I was excited that Viggo Mortensen had done the audio, but when I listened to and read the very first page, I closed up this set and will not even give it to a friend. Howard hasn't just simplified the text, he has destroyed it. Substituting the word "excuse" for "reason" in the famous dedication to Leon Werth is appalling. And to change "primeval forest" (Woods) to "jungle" is ludicrous. In addition, while Mortensen certainly has a great voice, his inflection is so flat that I can't imagine hearing the whole book read this way. I am not just disappointed in this product; I'm also appalled that whoever chose this translation would give such little credit to the reader. Woods' translation is as close to the original French as possible. I'll simply copy here some comments from a very astute person, Allie Jones, whose insight is spot on: "Katherine Woods' simple and beautiful translation is the only one that does justice to The Little Prince. Published by Harcourt in 1943 and 1971, her translation is the essential --- the translation loved and quoted by English-speaking people around the world, even by members of English- and French-speaking Canadian Parliament! But hers is OUT OF PRINT, so snatch up used copies while you may! WARNING: the "new translation" by Richard Howard purges meaning, and is not worth the money. It gives a falseness to one of the most sincere stories ever written. Howard's lacks beauty, and is at times unintelligible: It simply does not make sense. Since Howard has no apparent understanding of the truths expressed in The Little Prince, it is not to be wondered at.... Amazon.com's Editorial Review on HOWARD'S translation says that "Katherine Woods sometimes wandered off the mark, giving the text a slightly wooden or didactic accent. Happily, Richard Howard...has streamlined and simplified to wonderful effect." This would have been better written thus: "Katherine Woods uses poetic devices and a didactic accent to wonderful effect, capturing the essence and meaning of Antoine de Saint Exupéry's classic tale in a timeless translation. Unhappily and unfortunately, Richard Howard...has streamlined and simplified in a words-only translation, and he wanders off the mark, obscuring what were otherwise truths both simple and profound, giving the text a wooden effect." Why on EARTH was the Howard translation chosen!!! Both as an English teacher and a parent I'm extremely disappointed!