Where's Wally? (book)

Where's Wally?

First edition
Author	Martin Handford
Illustrator	Martin Handford
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Subject	Where's Wally?
Publisher	UK: Walker Books; US: first Little Brown, then Candlewick Press
Publication date	September 18, 1987
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	26
ISBN	0-316-34293-9
OCLC	15109312
LC Class	PZ7.H1918 Wh 1987

Where's Wally?, published in the United States and Canada as Where's Waldo?, is the title of the first book in the Where's Wally? series, published in 1987. In the book, Wally travels to everyday places, where he sends postcards to the reader (which are the pictures in the book), and the reader must locate Wally in the postcard. The book became an instant best-seller. 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 Hilary 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.

Scenes

1. In Town
2. On the Beach
3. Ski Slopes
4. Camp Site
5. The Railway Station
6. Airport
7. Sports Stadium
8. Museum
9. At Sea
10. Safari Park
11. Department Store
12. Fairground

Challenging 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 #87 on the American Library Association's "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books" list (1990-1999)^[1] because of the exposed breast. The woman is wearing a bikini top in the 1997 special edition release.

A similar happening occurs in "The Campsite" where children open a tent on a man while he is undressing. In the original, although his genitals are blocked from view by his hand, he is clearly naked. In the 1997 special release, however, he is wearing white briefs.

References