Where's Wally? - Martin Handford > Reviews (1)

I loved 'Where's Wally?' books when I was a kid - infact I remember regularly sitting in bed searching for Wally when I was supposed to be sleeping! So when my daughter picked up a couple of 'Where's Wally?' books in a shop a year or two ago, I didn't hesitate in buying them.

'Where's Wally?' was created in the mid eighties by British illustrator Martin Handford. It is also published in the US and Canada as 'Where's Waldo?'. Wally is a man that does a lot of travelling and wears a stripey red and white jumper with matching bobble hat and glasses. There are a number of different Wally books available and they all come in different sizes and format (there is even a 'Where's Wally?' app!). In each book the aim is to find Wally and his friends hidden in each picture (it began with just Wally but other characters have since been added).

The first and original 'Where's Wally?' book (which was originally published in 1987 and updated and re-released in 1997) has a blue cover which is covered in illustrated people and a gold ring around Wally who is hidden amongst them, along with the book title which simply reads 'Where's Wally?' on a postcard. In the corner it states 'Book 1' to avoid confusion (there are 6 books in this particular series). It is a paperback - the pages are quite thin but the cover is pretty durable and can be wiped clean.

The first page has a space to write who the book belongs to and also has a list of characters who you have to find that appear in each picture. Characters include Wally, Wenda (who looks similar to Wally but wears a skirt and has long hair), Wizard Whitebeard (a wizard with a long beard and stripey stick), Woof (Wally's white dog who wears a stripey jumper) and Odlaw (who looks like Wally but wears yellow and black stripes, instead of red and white stripes). There is also a list of 'lost' objects which can be found in each picture. Objects include Wally's key, Woof's bone, Wenda's camera, Wizard Whitebeard's scroll and Odlaw's binoculars. There are also 25 'Wally watchers' that feature in different pictures throughout the book - Wally watchers all look different but wear the same red and white stripey tops and bobble hats.

There are 12 different scenes in total and each scene covers 2 whole pages. The book is very large so the pictures are extra challenging (but don't strain your eyes like the smaller versions do). Scenes include at the beach, ski slopes, camp site, railway station, airport, sports stadium, museum, at sea, department store, fairground and safari park. On each page is a postcard written from Wally to the reader. He makes references to different scenarios in each scene which gives you something else to spot (E.g. 'Greetings Wally followers! Wow, the beach was great today! I saw this girl stick an ice cream in her brothers face and there was a sand castle with a real knight in armour inside! Fantastic! Wally'). There is also a checklist in the back of the book for each scene which requires you to find even more different scenarios (E.

g. A dog on a roof, a flying saucer, three clowns, a unicorn, a collapsed tent') - there are about 250 different scenarios to find throughout the book. There is also one extra character that appears in each scene - we are yet to work out who it is!

There is certainly a lot more than Wally to find and much more than I remember as a child. This is a great book for capturing children's concentrations and keeping them quiet for a long time! This book has come in extremely handy for me during long car journeys, waiting rooms and when I need some peace!

Each scene has hundreds of people in and most of them have red and white stripey 'red herrings' to make things harder. I find the easier character to find is usually Odlaw (probably because he wears different colours and stands out more) and the hardest character to find is Woof as the only part of him that you can see is his tail! The lost objects are also really tricky to find. The illustrations are great and include lots of funny scenarios which my daughter particularly likes! My daughter is now 5 years old and she is very good at this book - she can spot all of the main characters and can usually find all of the Wally watchers, although she does struggle with the lost objects. I am the wrong side of 20 and still love this book, I can't lie! We enjoy going through the book together but she also likes to do alone. In my opinion it's an entertaining book for the whole family and is one that would be enjoyed by all ages and either sexes.

The RRP of 'Where's Wally?' is 6.99 (but you can usually pick it up cheaper) and it's available from most book stores and book schemes. It is great value for money as there is so much to find and by the time you get to the end of the book you will have forgotten where everything is and can go through it again and again!

Summary: A book which stands the test of time.