“We decided to censor the book,” protests Jul | EUROtoday

On Mar 20, 2025

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L’work isn’t printed, however it already arouses controversy. And the anger of the creator and designer Jul (Julien Berjeaut), creator of the sketch Silex and the City and present screenwriter of the collection Lucky Luke. After Joann Sfar, Voutch or Catherine Meurisse, he had been chosen by the Ministry of National Education for instance the story of Beauty and the beast (in its model of 1756, by the Frenchman Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont). A course of first carried out “in perfect intelligence”, he confides within the Point“Then as a cleaver fell, we decided to cancel, censor the book,” he stated.

A father of gorgeous from Algeria

As yearly, since 2021, the nationwide training in partnership with the publishing home of the National Museums (Grandpalais-RMN) and as a part of the operation “A book for the holidays”, presents all CM2 college students a basic of French literature, illustrated by a recent designer. The objective: “strengthen the taste for independent reading among students”, earlier than coming into faculty. After the Fables of La Fontaine, L‘Odyssey of Homer or The man who planted timber of Jean Giono, it was, for this 2025 version, the story of Beauty and the beastwhich had been chosen by the rue de Grenelle. And the designer Jul, for instance it.

But this Monday, March 17, the Directorate General for School Education (DGESCO) suspended the impression of the work, nevertheless accomplished – and supposed for a draw with 800,000 copies. In a letter written to the creator and designer, Caroline Pascale, quantity two of the Ministry of National Education, thus justifies her choice: “The product does not allow a reading in autonomy, at home, with family and without the support of teachers for students aged ten to eleven. And to quote examples the themes of “alcohol”, “social networks” and “complex social realities” highlighted by Jul.

An “unacceptable censorship”, estimates the author and designer, who notably made the choice, in this revisited version that The point was able to consult, to represent the father of Belle, as originally from Algeria and being involved in fraud – counterfeit clothes, intercepted by customs and sniffed by dogs. And the latter to denounce what he considers to be a cancellation with xenophobic hints: “It is a world of princes and princesses that looks a little more like that of today’s schoolchildren, with curly hair and a little more tanned than the average …”

Drawings intended for an audience “capable of grasping irony”

For its part, the Ministry of National Education does not comment on the choices of the designer. But, in a press release published this Thursday, March 20, defends itself from all censorship, again arguing that Jul’s project addresses themes not adapted to “students of this age”. Which “could have aroused questions from students without necessarily finding an appropriate answer for lack of educational support during the summer holidays”. These drawings being intended for “a more mature audience, capable of grasping the irony and the second degree of the illustrator”, estimates the rue de Grenelle.

“We are part of an educational approach, and not artistic. This is our only compass, ”argues the cupboard of Élisabeth Borne, to the Pointwhich specifies, furthermore, having “contacted directly” with Jul “who did not wish to make the adjustments only[on] asked him ”. A “Balivens material”, responds to the interested party for the evocation of this exchange, which mentions, for his part, only one “preparatory assembly” and “sending a board for which two remarks had been made on secondary characters”, which he “taken under consideration”.

And to defend his approach: “They came to seek me knowingly, especially for my second degree and my irony. [Cette dernière] is also one of the fundamental values of our French spirit, without which one cannot read neither Gotlib or Ungerer, monument of children’s literature … “, argues the creator and designer, who denounces a” fallacious pretext “, whereas mentioning the primary” rave “remarks of the Minister of National Education held on her work.

“It’s a total sinking”

To uncover

The kangaroo of the day

Answer

“The malicious touch and the sharp look of Jul […] Infinny to this tale a new modernity, ”we can, in fact, read in the preface to the book, signed by Élisabeth Borne. The latter, invited this Thursday, March 20, on Europe 1, said, however: “Jul has a whole lot of expertise, he handles the irony, the second diploma. But with out instructional help, I believe it’s not appropriate […] It is a really lovely guide that can be utilized in one other setting. “It is schizophrenic, enrages the author and designer at the evocation of this sequence. And to see in this declaration the shadow of a “unilateral” decision of the DGESCO: “There is a political floating, it’s a whole sinking. »»

It is in the end the reissue, already revealed, del ‘Odyssey d’Homère (tailored by Murielle Szac and illustrated by Catel) that the rue de Grenelle will provide, this 12 months, to CM2 college students earlier than their departure on trip, the ministry stated in its press launch. Jul, then again, says “hope to succeed in publishing the book to which [il a] worked ”, regardless of national education. And ad, at Point, Consider giving “a authorized final result to this sequence”.

https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/polemique-autour-de-la-belle-et-la-bete-on-a-decide-de-censurer-le-livre-s-insurge-jul-20-03-2025-2585261_23.php