The designer Jul accuses the Ministry of Education of having censored the release of his story illustrated the Beauty and the Beast

He does not take off. The comic book author Jul was preparing to join the authors of comics who participated in the operation “A book for the holidays” intended for CM2 students. This will probably not be the case. The day before the launch of printing at 900,000 copies of the album Beauty and the beast Illustrated by Jul according to the text of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, this classic youth was simply canceled by the Ministry of National Education.

And « unprecedented fact ”, says the author of Silex and the City. “Technically, given the number of books concerned to join the hands of young readers, it may even be the biggest case of censorship never occurred in the edition in France”, he believes.

Initiated seven years ago by the former Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer in partnership with the RMN, the operation “A book for the holidays” aims to offer CM2 students a classic of French literature before entering college. This year, the choice had focused on a 18th century work^e century : Beauty and the beastby Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont.

“I was chosen to illustrate this text, in the recognizable style of my other creations, said the interested party in a press release. The trademark of my work sought by the minister’s office at the origin of this choice belongs to an important current of French drawn literature, carrying a second degree heir to Gotlib , Goscinny or Tomi Ungerer . »

The book even benefited from an elegant preface signed by the Minister of Education Élisabeth Borne. What does this classic of children’s literature say that is likely to be censored, even illustrated by the facetious Jul, author of The planet of the sages or from 50 shades of Greeks ? A young girl named Belle agrees to be retained trapped in a monster to deliver her father. But the beast with a terrifying appearance actually hides a prince in the heart of gold. Little by little, Beauty and the Beast fall in love, breaking the spell thrown by the wicked witch. The moral of history being that one should not trust the appearance of others and count on the goodness of the heart.

It seems that these precepts have somewhat escaped the Directorate General for School Education (DGESCO). At the last moment, this department of the ministry decided to cancel the important draw (900,000 copies). Is it an economic cup or does this cancellation raise more worrying questions about the astonishing ideological drift of an institution guardian of republican values?

To justify the outright cancellation of this work whose objective is to bring the young generation towards the pleasure of reading thanks to the virtues of humor, the Directorate General of School Education explained that “The role of the Ministry of National Education (…) is to allow students to acquire a culture, knowledge and skills – whose critical mind – in a manner adapted to their age, to their maturity and in a accompanied manner. »

The year of the tenth anniversary of the attacks against Charlie Hebdo, While President Donald Trump puts thousands of books in American schools to the index, it seems surprising to say the least that an operation of this scale may have been terminated in France. “I am ashamed of this political inconsistency which sends a signal of recovery of freedom of expression and premium, deplores Jul. This censorship is a first defeat: letting it pass a hundred others.As we say in the comic strip, to follow …