Where's Wally?
A self-drawing of Martin 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 then Candlewick Press |
| Published | 1987–present |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
Where's Wally? (called Where's Waldo? in North America) is a series of children's puzzle books created by the English illustrator Martin 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 contain red 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. The books have also inspired two television programmes (Where's Wally? the 1991 animated series and Where's Waldo? the 2019 animated series), a comic strip and a series of video games.
As of 2007, more than 73 million Where's Wally? books had been sold around the world since the debut of the series in 1987. The series has been translated into 26 languages and is published in over 50 countries.