THE WOODEN PEOPLE. Paperny, Myra. Toronto, Overlea House, 1987. 191pp, paper, $3.95, ISBN 0-7172-2272-1. CIP Grades 3 to 6 Reviewed by Jo Anna Burns Patton Volume 16 Number 3 1988 May Myra Paperny has written a touching story of an immigrant family during the 1920s. As the story progresses the family moves to a small village in Alberta and lives above a general store. Although three of the children settle peacefully into their new environment, Teddy, the oldest boy, decides that having to give up friends all the time when he moves is too painful, so he gives up having friends. To replace real friends, then, with the help of his brother and sisters, he creates "wooden people" or puppets to entertain himself. The others help him with the puppets and create stories for the puppets. The author has written a story that young readers can enjoy on many levels, from the interesting view of life in smalltown Canada in the 1920s, to the empathy with children who find it difficult to make friends when friends always have to be given up. The characters were well developed and the settings were effectively described. I found the story easy to read and quite interesting. When this story was first published in 1976 it won the Canada Council Award for Juvenile Literature and the Little, Brown Children's Book Award. With its re-issue this year, an entirely new generation of nine-to-eleven-year-olds can enjoy this heart-warming story. Jo Anna Burns Patton, K.C.S. School for Girls, Montreal, Que.