A Dad's Perspective: Where's Waldo?

A Where’s Waldo Book Review

The other day we were out perusing the used books at the local Goodwill. My daughter stumbled across a colorful oversized book about Tonka Trucks. She instantly took to it and it of course made its way into the shopping cart.

look and find tonka truck children's book

Upon reading it to her that night it brought back some fond memories that likely inspired its creation. The book was, in its simplest form a Where’s Waldo book! Each page took a snapshot of city life (featuring the brand’s iconic construction vehicles) and tasked the viewer to search for related items scattered throughout the scene. It was great fun to search with her but it made me long for the original master of the search and find genre!

While Tonka Trucks will likely get a full review of its own, I’m really here to talk about WALDO!

Childhood Revisted

The Where’s Waldo books came out in the mid-’80s and instantly created a following. Whether it’s because of the catchy name, his trademark stripes, or the hyper-detailed hilarious art style, there’s a lot to love in these classic children’s books.

For this review, I chose to pick through the original four books that my family owns. Where’s Waldo, Find Waldo Now, The Great Waldo Search (which has been renamed The Fantastic Journey) and Where’s Waldo in Hollywood.

Where’s Waldo?

The first Waldo was published in 1987, and the sequels were published in ’88 and ’89. Author Martin Handford then took a break and waited till 1993 to release Where’s Waldo in Hollywood. Where’s Waldo is easily the most iconic of the books and sets the stage for what was to come. The premise is Waldo, a traveling adventurer, loading up his backpack and setting off to explore the world. Each page features a new setting and hundreds of people to encounter in wacky scenarios. The reader gets a short postcard greeting that lays the framework of each scene and is then tasked to find our hero in the ensuing chaos.

Finding Waldo is tough! The first page is straightforward and not particularly hard but the difficulty ramps up very quickly. Throw in a slew of red herrings and the shrinking size of the characters and even experienced adults will be challenged! And lest you think finding Waldo in the twelve scenes is the end of the journey, Waldo reveals that he has also lost all of his gear! Sharp-eyed sleuths might have caught on that his load seemed to get lighter as each page turned and it is now the reader’s task to go back and find each item scattered throughout the land. There are also checklists of unique and funny occurrences for the reader to locate at the end of the book. This is truly one of the most re-readable books a child could own!

Find Waldo Now

Find Waldo Now expands the franchise by taking Waldo into a time-traveling historical review. He goes through all the places you would expect such as the caveman era, ancient Egypt, Vikings, pirates, and Aztecs. He even travels into the future with space exploration! Since Waldo is reviewing history, he has left his travel gear behind and opted for a collection of books to carry with him. And as is expected, by the end he has lost all of his literature, and it is up to the reader to go back and find each lost book.

The Great Waldo Search a.K.A. The Fantastic Journey

The Great Waldo Search is the third book and gives a more storied approach to the hunt. Waldo meets the Wizard White Beard who sends him on a quest to find a collection of scrolls (replacing the previous books and gear). This book focuses on fantasy and showcases the lands of vampires, flying carpets, forest people, and mermaids for Waldo to explore. It also features hands down the hardest Waldo page to date!

picture from land of waldos — *Land of Waldos – the hardest Waldo page to date!*

Where’s Waldo in Hollywood

The final book in our collection explores Hollywood. Where’s Waldo in Hollywood is another great collection it is also the one I most often forget exists. Perhaps it was the gap in time for release or me just getting older and taking on new interests. That being said this is still an amazing book. You would think the creative well would have run dry but there are still thousands of new people to bump into comically with brand new set pieces to interact with. It is creative and introduces new ideas such as coloring a double-page spread in black and white as a throwback to movies of old!

Dance numbers, Monsters, Westerns, and red carpet movie debuts all appear here. There is even an attempt to out “Waldo” the “Land of Waldos” from the previous book. While I don’t think the climax is quite as striking as the first time you turned the page to the “Land of Waldos” you are going to be taken aback and say “oh man! This one’s going to take me a while!”

waldo lives on!

While this concludes my initial foray into the Waldo-verse his legacy has expanded far beyond just these four books. Merchandise in the forms of posters, puzzles, clothing, etc. is everywhere. I personally recommend trying to find a puzzle version of the Land of Waldos scene. It’s probably the hardest puzzle I’ve ever attempted… and it didn’t help in trying to find Waldo!

Additional Waldo books can also be found in the form of Where’s Waldo: The Wonder Book, The Great Picture Hunt, The Incredible Paper Chase, and Santa Spectacular. I have yet to get my hands on a copy of these newer books but look forward to it as our children get older and might even make a future review!

Warning! skimpy bikinis and more

I should make a note that while I love all of these books and the character is iconic and rooted in pop culture, some parents might be surprised at some of the little scenarios that appear in the pages. Like any kids movie or TV show, everything is aimed at kids but there are plenty of things subtly hidden to wink at adult viewers as well. The scale of every picture makes it very easy for children to skim over and miss some more adult-themed actions. I’d never classify anything as being over perhaps a PG-13 rating but you will find lots of very well endowed women in skimpy attire, near nudity, skeletons, humorous violence, and bodily functions. All of it is very much played for laughs but if you are sensitive to such things just be aware.

author reviewing the where's waldo books — *The author, hard at work while eating a flaming hot popcorn snack*

I consider Waldo a must-have addition to any kid’s library. Since our versions are 30+ years old I’m excited to see the newer versions and how the universe has expanded. It has been a delightfully nostalgic trip to revisit these classics. While our oldest still might be a tad young to search through the pages it will be a delight once both kids are combing through pages for Waldo and his cohorts!

For more book reviews from a Dad’s perspective, check out my page A Dad’s Perspective. Thanks for reading!