How Long Does It Take to Read The Little Prince?
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943) runs about 15,000 words — roughly 85 pages in a standard paperback. At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, that is 1 hour and 3 minutes of reading. The tables below break it down by pace and by daily reading sessions, and you can calculate reading time for any book or test how well you know this one with the Little Prince book quiz.
Reading time by speed
| Reading pace | Time to finish The Little Prince |
|---|---|
| Slow (150 wpm) | 1 hour and 40 minutes |
| Average (238 wpm) | 1 hour and 3 minutes |
| Fast (350 wpm) | 43 minutes |
| Speed reader (450 wpm) | 33 minutes |
Reading in daily sessions
Prefer a nightly page goal? Here is how long the book lasts as a daily habit:
| Session length | Days to finish |
|---|---|
| 15 minutes per day | 5 days |
| 30 minutes per day | 3 days |
| 60 minutes per day | 2 days |
Where the numbers come from
The average adult reads 238 words per minute for non-fiction and around 238–300 wpm for easy fiction, according to Marc Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis of 190 reading-rate studies — the number most reading-time tools use. The Little Prince’s word count (15,000) is an estimate for a standard text or translation; translations and editions vary, so treat both word and page counts as planning figures. For a custom edition or your own pace, the reading time calculator does the math for any word count.
Is The Little Prince hard to read?
Easy — a one-sitting fable; the sentences are simple and the ideas are not.
A pilot stranded in the Sahara meets a small golden-haired boy from an asteroid the size of a house, who tells of his vain and beloved rose, his journey past six very odd grown-ups, and the fox who taught him to see with his heart. A children's book that reads differently — and harder — every decade of your life. Think you know it already? Take the Little Prince book quiz — eight questions, two minutes — or see how you do on the full mixed-classics book quiz.
A realistic pace plan for The Little Prince
Numbers help, but habits finish books. At 30 minutes a day — one coffee break or one commute — you are done in 3 days. Prefer the one-sitting test? You would need about 1 hour and 3 minutes in a single stretch, which most readers split over a weekend. And if you read 8 pages a night, the book lasts roughly 11 nights — the point is that a 85-page classic shrinks fast once the session is fixed. Readers who finish long books almost never “find time”; they pick the session size first and let the days accumulate.
Your pace may vary from chapter to chapter, especially when the language or ideas are unfamiliar. Leave a little room in your plan for slower passages. When you turn the last page, the Little Prince book quiz is a quick way to see how much stayed with you.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read The Little Prince?
At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, The Little Prince takes about 1 hour and 3 minutes. At a fast 350 wpm it is 43 minutes; a slow, careful 150 wpm reader needs about 1 hour and 40 minutes.
How many pages is The Little Prince?
About 85 pages in a standard paperback edition — editions vary, so treat it as a close estimate.
How many words is The Little Prince?
Approximately 15,000 words, the figure used for every calculation on this page.
Is The Little Prince hard to read?
Easy — a one-sitting fable; the sentences are simple and the ideas are not.
Is The Little Prince worth the time?
A pilot stranded in the Sahara meets a small golden-haired boy from an asteroid the size of a house, who tells of his vain and beloved rose, his journey past six very odd grown-ups, and the fox who taught him to see with his heart. If that sounds like your kind of book, 1 hour and 3 minutes is a reasonable price for one of the most-read titles in its genre — and the quiz linked above tells you whether an earlier read already stuck.
What reading level is The Little Prince?
About Grades 5-7, typically read by ages 9+. The suggested age is a guide; reading experience varies from person to person.
How long other classics take
Counting sessions instead of hours? The Little Prince has 27 chapters, about 555 words each. Every title on the shelf is timed the same way in how long to read: 133 classics, timed — from Animal Farm’s single afternoon to War and Peace’s two-week campaign. For scale, The Little Prince is the 133rd longest of the 133 classics timed here — the longest of the shelf.
Planning a whole-author project? The Antoine de Saint-Exupéry books in order guide lists the full shelf in reading order.