Most of my young adult and adult listeners will know who Waldo is of Where’s Waldo? fame. For those of you not familiar with the nearly wordless picture books, Waldo is a cherry character in blue pants, red striped shirt and hat, and brown walking stick created and drawn by Martin Handford. The point of the Where’s Waldo? books is to find him in several full color, richly illustrated pictures. Even as a younger person it routinely took me 20 minutes or more to find Waldo in a picture from his book.
Now seven of the original Waldo adventures have been published in The Totally Essential Travel Collection. This book is about two-thirds the size of the original Waldo books, and the illustrations have been shrunk down to fit the page. Younger people may have no problem squinting to find Waldo, but if you’re an adult enthusiast, you many want to have a magnifying glass handy. On each page the viewer can find Waldo, his dog Woof, Waldo’s female counterpart Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, and Waldo’s nemesis Odlaw (which is Waldo spelled backwards). Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, and Woof share Waldo’s color scheme of red, white, blue, and a touch of brown, while Odlaw is dressed in black and yellow. Follow the group through parties, gardens, movie sets, and other exotic locales! With 75 scenes to peer at, there are more than enough to keep the reader occupied. This book was published as a distraction for long car rides, so as long as the reader doesn’t get carsick, this is a must-see for the next family vacation!
You can get the book reviewed here and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit, on the North Campus. This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”
Where's Waldo? The Totally Essential Travel Collection by Martin Handford
ISBN: 9780763661786 (No page length given; seven separate titles included.)
Children's non-fiction collection