 Aself-drawing ofMartin Handford with (left to right) Wizard Whitebeard, Woof, Odlaw, Wenda, and Wally. | |
List of titles | |
| Author | Martin Handford |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature, puzzle |
| Publisher | UK:Walker Books US:Little Brown & Co thenCandlewick Press |
| Published | 1987–present |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
Where's Wally? (calledWhere's Waldo? in North America) is a series of children's puzzle books created by the English illustratorMartin Handford, first published on 25 June 1987. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations each depicting hundreds of people doing a variety of amusing things at a location. Readers are challenged to find a character named Wally and his friends hidden throughout the pages.
Wally is identified by his red-and-white-striped shirt,bobble hat, and glasses, but many illustrations containred herrings involving deceptive use of red-and-white striped objects. Later entries in the long-running book series added other targets for readers to find in each illustration.[1] The books have also inspired two television programmes (Where's Wally? the 1991 animated series andWhere's Wally? the 2019 animated series), acomic strip and a series of video games.
As of 2007, more than 73 millionWhere's Wally? books had been sold around the world since the debut of the series in 1987.[2] The series has been translated into 26 languages and is published in over 50 countries.[2]
In 1986, illustratorMartin Handford, a graduate of theUniversity for the Creative Arts inKent, was asked by art director, David Bennett, atWalker Books in London, to develop a book of detailed crowd scenes. Bennett was inspired by a book seriesBusy Places byPhilippe Dupasquier.[3] While the book was being prepared forBologna Book Fair, someone at Walker Books suggested Handford hide a distinctive-looking character in crowd scenes for readers to search for.[3] Handford came up with the idea of "Wally", a world traveller and time travel aficionado dressed in red and white stripes.[4]
The firstWhere's Wally? book was published on 25 June 1987.[5][6][7] First published in the United Kingdom by Walker Books, the series was introduced in United States under the titleWhere's Waldo? because an executive at the book's initial American publisher,Little, Brown and Company, disliked the name "Wally" because it reminded him ofWallis Simpson. American publishing rights were soon taken on byCandlewick Press, the American subsidiary of Walker Books.
The books became extremely popular and were localised for a variety of regions, where Wally was known by names such as Walter in Germany, Charlie in France, Van Lang in Vietnam, Jonas in Lithuania, and Ubaldo in Italy. The franchise also spawned other media in a more storyline-based form, includinga 1991 television series,Where's Wally?,a comic strip,Where's Wally? and a series of video games.[8] In the early 1990s, a topless beachgoer in aWhere's Waldo puzzle caused controversy in the US and causedBJ's Wholesale Club and certain school libraries to pull the book from shelves, leading to its appearance in theAmerican Library Association's list of the 100 most frequently challenged books of the 1990s.[9][10][11]
Handford continued to publish books in the series, and sometimes it took him up to eight weeks to draw two-page illustrations of the elusive "Wally" and the many characters surrounding him.[12] He made Wally progressively harder to find by reducing his size on the page and surrounding him by more characters. In the first book, Wally was on average 0.99 square centimetres (0.153 square inches) big. This was reduced to 0.80 cm2 (0.124 sq in) in the second book, 0.33 cm2 (0.051 sq in) in the third, and between 0.20 and 0.17 cm2 (0.031 and 0.026 sq in) in the fourth through seventh books. He has also been surrounded by more characters, from 225 on the first book's first page to about 850 on the last book's first page.[13]
In January 2007,Entertainment Rights purchased theWhere's Wally? franchise.[14] On 1 April 2009, Entertainment Rights went into voluntaryadministration.[15] On the same day,Boomerang Media acquired all of Entertainment Rights' subsidiaries including Entertainment Rights itself, Big Idea and Classic Media.[16] The following month, Boomerang Media began preparations to unify former British and US subsidiaries of Entertainment Rights under the name "Classic Media", while Big Idea would operate under its own name.[17] The Entertainment Rights PLC company was folded in December 2010.[18] In 2012, Classic Media was acquired byDreamWorks Animation.[19] DreamWorks Animation was then acquired byNBCUniversal in 2016, thusUniversal Pictures gaining the rights to most of Entertainment Rights' catalogue of works.
.jpg)
As of 2024, there are seven primary Wally books. The books were released both in hard-cover (for the original books) and subsequently in paperback. Each contains around a dozen scenes with Wally hidden in them. Each book has additional hidden objects and/or characters hidden in each scene specific to that book. The books usually reserve telling the reader about some item(s) to find until the end of the book so that the reader will have to go through the book again. The books contain checklists for each scene of interesting things or people to find.
There have been three rounds of revised editions. In 1993, to coincide with the publication ofIn Hollywood, the first three books were reprinted with Wenda, Woof and the Wally Watchers added to the original illustrations, and the books were numbered on the cover. A "pocket edition" of the first book was also published, in a tinyA6 format (105 by 148 millimetres; 4.1 in × 5.8 in). Wally is even harder to spot when shrunk to this degree, and later printings included a free magnifying lens.
In 1997, to coincide with the publication ofThe Wonder Book, special "Tenth Anniversary Editions" of the first four books were published with a distinct silver border on their front covers, and added later-introduced characters and objects to look for in every scene, and also moved Wally to different locations from the original versions. These special editions appeared in both standard and "pocket" formats.
In 2007, for the 20th anniversary of the first book, the special editions of 1997 (andThe Great Picture Hunt) were re-released with a new cover into paperback format. The silver borders on the books were removed and instead, the books were numbered in the top left-hand corner of the cover. Aside from the new numbering system, some of the front covers were also revised otherwise; for example, the "NOW?" on the cover ofWhere's Wally Now? was given a 2D effect, but it was originally designed to look like a 3D shape.
In addition to the primary books, other books have also been published in the Wally franchise. The first alternate-format Wally book was theUltimate Fun Book. In addition to standard Wally scenes, this paperback activity book featured other types of games and activities, as well as cardboard punch-outs and stickers.The Magnificent Poster Book, which was a large-format book of posters including five scenes from past books and six new scenes (later included inThe Great Picture Hunt).
Several other "activity books" have also been published featuring art from the "Where's Wally" comic strip:
The first six activity books mentioned were reprinted in 2009 in a smaller size with different packaging.
| Year | Title | Contains |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Bumper Activity Book | The Wildly Wonderful Activity Book,The Simply Sensational Activity Book,The Really Remarkable Activity Book andThe Completely Crazy Activity Books in one large book. |
| 2000 | Boxed Set | Where's Wally?,Where's Wally Now?,The Ultimate Fun Book,The Truly Terrific Activity Book andThe Absolutely Amazing Activity Book |
| 2004 | The Completely Cool Collection | Where's Wally?,Where's Wally Now?,The Fantastic Journey,In Hollywood andThe Wonder Book special editions |
| 2006 | The Mega Mini Collection | Where's Wally?,Where's Wally Now?,The Fantastic Journey andIn Hollywood mini special editions. |
| 2007 | The Solid Gold Collection | Where's Wally?,Where's Wally Now?,The Fantastic Journey,In Hollywood,The Wonder Book special editions andThe Fabulous Flying Carpets Sticker Book. |
| 2009 | The Ultimate Travel Collection | Where's Wally?,Where's Wally Now?,The Fantastic Journey,In Hollywood andThe Wonder Book special editions in one travel-sized book. |
| 2009 | The Magnificent Mini Box Set | Where's Wally?,Where's Wally Now?,The Fantastic Journey,In Hollywood andThe Wonder Book mini special editions with special Where's Wally? magnifying glass. |
| 2011 | The Totally Essential Travel Collection | Where's Wally?,Where's Wally Now?,The Fantastic Journey,In Hollywood,The Wonder Book,The Great Picture Hunt andThe Incredible Paper Chases special editions in one travel-sized book. |
| 2012 | The Wow Collection | Where's Wally?,Where's Wally Now?,The Fantastic Journey,In Hollywood,The Wonder Book, andThe Great Picture Hunt special editions and an 80-piece jigsaw puzzle (of WallyWorld Again, fromThe Great Picture Hunt!) in a hardcover slipcase. |
A series of geographical magazines for children was published in the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Portugal, Poland, Brazil, Spain, France, Hungary, Czech Republic, Malta, Bulgaria and Russia, calledWally's World. In each issue Wally travelled to a different country or region of the world giving the reader interesting facts. 52 issues were published from January 1997 to January 1998, whenWally's History of the World began, focusing more on history than geography. The first issue was given away free with the last issue ofWally's World.
For several years in the early and mid-1990s,Where's Wally? was turned into a Sunday newspaper comic/puzzle, drawn byStephan Martinière, and distributed byKing Features Syndicate.[20] The strip was later translated and reworked for international markets, including releases in book form in the US, using the regional name 'Waldo'.
Severalactivity books of the comic strip were released in the mid-1990s:
A 13-episode animated series,Where's Wally?, withTownsend Coleman as the voice of Wally, was produced byDiC forCBS in 1991 for the North American market under the "Waldo" name. The show was later translated for international markets, usually renaming the character to match the books of that country. The dialogue and theme song were recorded in alternativeWally versions, with the same voice cast of the original American production, in order to market the show in the UK. It was aired onITV in the UK and the distribution rights to the show are currently held byHIT Entertainment.
The second animated series byDreamWorks Animation Television aired onUniversal Kids in 2019.[21] The voice cast includesJoshua Rush as the voice of Waldo,Haley Tju as Wenda, Eva Carlton as Odlulu (the female equivalent to Odlaw),Thomas Lennon as Wizard Whitebeard andPiotr Michael as Woof.[22] The series later moved toPeacock.[23]
A film based on theWhere's Wally? series has been pursued by various studios.Nickelodeon took interest in the idea, but cancelled its plans due to internal changes atParamount, its corporate sister. In June 2009,Universal Studios (which later obtained ownership ofWhere's Wally? through its acquisition ofClassic Media's ownerDreamWorks Animation in 2016) andIllumination acquired the rights to turnWhere's Wally? into a live-action film,[24] but this project was also cancelled.[25]
In November 2011,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Classic Media announced a live-action film based on theWhere's Waldo? series.[26] ScreenwriterTodd Berger has been hired to write the story for the film, which was slated to be released in the summer of 2015.[27] In March 2016,Seth Rogen andEvan Goldberg were in talks to produce the film with their producing partner James Weaver and Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir to write the film, under theirPoint Grey Pictures banner.[28]
The 1994 comedy filmNaked Gun33+1⁄3: The Final Insult, starringLeslie Nielsen andPriscilla Presley, features acameo appearance by Wally at the end of the film during a scene that takes place at theAcademy Awards.
During the 2012 Super Bowl, Wally was featured in aMetLife commercial. As in the series, Wally was hard to find in the commercial.
A number of North American video games were developed using the US/Canada regional name "Waldo":
In the early 1990sQuaker Life Cereal in the US carried variousWhere's Waldo? scenes on the back of the boxes along with collector's cards, toys and send-away prizes. This was shown inThe Simpsons episode "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" where Homer shouts "Waldo, where are you?!" after looking at the scene on the cereal box as Waldo walks by the kitchen window.[29]
On 1 April 2018,Google Maps added a minigame in which one can look for Wally and his friends around the world[30] – in theAndes (Chile),Surfers Paradise beach (Australia), in the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium (South Korea), at theLa Tomatina festival (Spain), inHollywood and in thePicard crater on theMoon.[31]
.jpg)
In 2009, 1,052 students, alumni, and members of the community atRutgers University inNew Brunswick, New Jersey, captured theGuinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as Wally. The event raised money for localpublic schools. In 2011, the previous record was broken when 3,872 people dressed as Wally gathered inMerrion Square, Dublin, Ireland.[32] The record was beaten in 2017 when 4,626 people dressed as Wally gathered in Japan, after three failed attempts.[33]
The Waldo Waldo 5K has tried to break the record in a 5-kilometre fun run to raise money for theWaldo Canyon Fire burn area in Colorado Springs, Colorado, US, every year since the fire in July 2012. The first attempt, on 21 October, had just over a thousand.[34] The second attempt, on 27 October 2013, had over 2,700.[35] The third attempt, on 26 October 2014, hosted 3,104 participants.[36] The fourth attempt, on 17 October 2015, increased the count to 3,400 participants.[37] The fifth attempt was made on 22 October 2016,[38] with a final count of 3,524.[39] The next race was held on 21 October 2017.[40] The last race was held on 20 October 2018, with a final count of 3,809.[40]
On 12 September 2009, a re-creation took place in downtown Chicago. The re-creation featured all of the characters, Wally, Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, Odlaw, and Woof, hiding throughout downtown Chicago and invited others to come and find them.[41][42]Universities (such as theUniversity of Exeter) have had Where's Wally inspired societies, in which members may dress as Wally whilst playing games such ashide-and-seek on campus grounds.[43]
At the same time, Illumination has scrapped a number of planned movie ideas. "Waldo" and a Tim Burton-helmed, stop-motion "The Addams Family" are dead. The company abandoned a Woody Woodpecker pic, and couldn't crack "Clifford the Big Red Dog".
| Books | |
|---|---|
| Television | |
| Video games | |
| Other | |
