These drawings and ideas that hit National Education

The National Education returned to its decision to distribute CM2 students for the summer a revisiting comic book “Beauty and the Beast” by the author Jul. The book was deemed unsuitable for this young audience.

An order of 800,000 illustrated pounds canceled. National Education has changed its mind regarding the distribution of a modernized version of Beauty and the beastwritten by the author Jul, screenwriter of Lucky Luke. The book had been chosen for the annual operation “A book for the holidays”, which offers CM2 students a classic of French literature revisited to read during the summer, revealed The world This Wednesday, March 19. It should be replaced by an adaptation of Odysée. “Jul has a lot of talent, he handles irony, the second degree. But without educational support, I think that is not suitable. But it is a very beautiful book that can be used in another framework,” explains the Minister of National Education, Elisabeth Borne, this Thursday morning Europe 1. She fears a lack of decoding in an out -of -school setting.

A letter of explanation was sent to the author this Monday to justify this decision, signed by the Director General of School Education, Caroline Pascal. According to her, this book does not allow “a reading, at home, family and without the support of teachers for students aged 10 to 11”, and “could arouse many questions among students who do not necessarily find an appropriate answer”. In particular, it evokes illustrations showing “alcohol, social networks, or even complex social realities”. Belle’s father is notably represented drunk, bottle in hand, singing Connerama lakes. Social networks and mobile phones are also highlighted on many pages.

“It is a modern rewriting. We have a father who arrives from Algeria, who must commit fraud, who is controlled by the police,” explained Elisabeth Borne, who obviously does not like the idea. The book also illustrates mythical scenes from the story: the father of Belle arriving under the snow in front of the castle of the Beast, the beautiful searching the library but falling on the musical La la Landthe beast, represented as a black hairy monster with long teeth and yellow eyes, surprising the father stealing a rose.

Jul suspects the government of conservatism or xenophobia

The author of the book replied in the face of this decision. He accuses National Education of leaving “fallacious pretexts” to explain this decision. “The only explanation seems to seek in the disgust of seeing a world of princes and princesses who looks a little more like that of today’s schoolchildren. The” great replacement “of blond princesses by young Mediterranean girls would he be the limit not to be crossed for the Versaillaise administration of the ministry?”, Asked Jul in a press release.

Questioned by BFMTV – which gives the images of a few boards – He said that the subject has been worked for a long time, describing a book “very fun, cute, keeping the magical aspect and adapting to a certain code of modernity”. He assures that Elisabeth Borne had initially made a “dithyrambic” preface welcoming the quality of the “transposition”, before giving it up. He also recalled that it is the original text of the 18th century from Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont.