“The Wars” by Timothy Findlay will remain on the reading list for senior secondary school students in the Bluewater District Public system.
The book was the subject of a complaint by a parent earlier this year and a call was made for a review of the literary work.
Board Chair Marg Gaviller says the book was reviewed by the Textbook Appeal Committee, make up of a number of English teachers from the secondary schools and they felt the book had educational value.
Gaviller says the book contains graphic violence and language as it’s a book about the perils of war.
However, she says the language isn’t something that the students haven’t already heard or experienced in movies and video games.
Gaviller says though, the book is not something you just give to a student to read.
She says there has to be a discussion within an educational environment, paying attention to the education value of the book.
Wikipedia describes “The Wars” as a 1977 novel by Timothy Findlay telling the story of a young Canadian officer in World War I.
It won the Governor General’s Award for fiction in 1977.
