Where's Waldo? (book)

Infobox Book |
name = Where's Wally?


image_caption =
author = Martin Handford
illustrator = Martin Handford
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
subject = Where's Wally
publisher = Little Brown & Co
release_date = September 1987
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages = 26
isbn = ISBN 0316342939

"Where's Wally?" (Waldo in the US) is the title of the first book in the "Where's Wally?" series, published in 1987. The book "Where's Wally?" was released 2 months earlier in the UK; the character's name and other text were changed for the U.S. audience, while the artwork was the same as the other book.

In the book Wally travels to everyday places where he sends postcards to the reader. The book became an instant bestseller. "Where's Wally?" was re-released in October 1997 in a special 10th anniversary edition form. The location of Wally was changed in each picture and additional characters were added for the reader to find (Woof, Wizard Whitebeard, Wenda, Odlaw, the Wally Watchers and others).

The Wally series is quite evocative of an earlier children's book titled "Where's Wallace?" (by Hillary Knight), in which a red-headed orangutan escapes from the zoo and "hides" in highly detailed picture panoramas, including beach, department store, circus, stadium, and museum.

cenes

*In Town
*On the Beach
*Ski Slopes
*Camp Site
*The Railway Station
*Airport
*Sports Stadium
*Museum
*At Sea
*Safari Park
*Department Store
*Fairground

Banning "Where's Wally"

The book has been challenged in libraries and schools because of a topless woman near the upper right of the "On the Beach" scene. It ranks #88 on the American Library Association's " [http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm 100 Most Frequently Banned Books] " list because of the exposed breast. The banned book list actually tracks "challenges" (attempts to have books banned) rather than actual bannings. [ [http://blogs.usatoday.com/techspace/2006/09/oh_really_ban_t.html Oh really, ban this?: Day One - Tech_Space - USATODAY.com ] ] The woman was covered up for the 1997 special edition release.

Notes

*Where's Wally?" was the first Wally book and the first appearance of the character Wally.
*In each scene Wally loses an item that the reader is asked to find. These objects include his walking stick, kettle, mallet, cup, backpack, sleeping bag, binoculars, camera, snorkel, belt, bag and shovel.
*"The Railway Station" page was retitled "The Train Station" in the special edition.
*The "secret person" hidden in all the scenes in this book (in the "special edition" only) is an African-American, with short black hair, wearing a white shirt and red tie.

References