The French government has been accused of censorship after it cancelled a book order for 800,000 copies of Beauty and the Beast, which were to be given free to children this summer, reports BBC News.
According to education minister Élisabeth Borne, it is because the new illustrated version of the classic story was judged too grown-up for the 10 and 11 year-olds who would be reading it.
But illustrator Julien Berjeaut – known as Jul – said the ministry's objections were spurious, and that he feared the book was pulled because the characters he portrayed in it were dark-skinned.
"The only reason I can think of [for the cancellation] is the disgust some people felt at seeing princes and princesses who look a bit more like actual schoolchildren of today," he told France's Le Monde newspaper.
Jul believes the cancellation is because the characters in the new books have "darker skin instead of blonde fairy-tale princesses."
He added that it was "as if [Donald] Trump and his team were in charge".
Read more of this report from BBC News.