Antoine de Saint-Exupéry first published The Little Prince in 1943.
Published in French as "Le Petit Prince".
All of the novella's simple but elegant watercolour illustrations, which were integral to the story, were painted by Saint-Exupéry. See:
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/littleprince.pdf
Several movies have been made of the story - both animated and 'live' versions.

At one year old, our little sweetie reminded me totally of the Little Prince of the story.