Where's Waldo? Not in the libraries because he's been banned

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muns, raleigh. “where is waldo? not in the libraries because he has been banned”

the current (university of missouri-st. louis) 2005-10-17 (vol. 38, no. 1164), p. 6

You are reading: Where’s waldo books banned

according to the american library association’s “questioned and banned books” website (www.ala.org), “where’s waldo?” by martin handford. It was one of the 100 most banned books between 1990 and 2000. The wing regularly records book complaints, as well as actual book bans, and continuously tracks them. Consequently, the wing publishes an annual list of the most banned books in America. the wing also annually celebrates “banned books week” the last week of September. The 10 most banned books in 2004 range from John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” to the “Captain Underpants” series of YA books. I’ve read Steinbeck’s work (or seen the cartoon version of Mr. Magoo, forgot) but I confess I’ve never heard of “Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Underpants Woman” (Dav Pilkey, 2001) . I’m intrigued.

for those who don’t know waldo, the books consist of page after page of intricately drawn scenes. The reader must find Waldo amid the messy illustrations containing hundreds of active non-Waldo characters. Since all the people are drawn in miniature, it’s a real concentration challenge to choose the diminutive protagonist among the legions of other characters. Waldo’s books are often sold with a magnifying glass to make finding them easier.

then why ban waldo? which would place this series of books alongside other banned titles of the last decade such as “daddy’s roommate” (michael willhoite, 1990), “sex” (madonna, 1992), “girls and sex” (wardell pomeroy, 1991) and “heather has two mommies” (leslea newman, 1989)? what about the poor waldo who got tangled up in the panties of the book posters? what mysterious sin in waldo’s backstory would cause such wrath and rage?

one of my reference librarian colleagues, mrs. frances piesbergen, did some research and discovered a couple of interesting clues about this infamous waldo problem. According to Chris Zammarelli’s October 2003 “Bookslut Banned” column (www.bookslut.com), the author claims that one of Waldo’s books contains (gasp!) a bare breast. an amazon.com book reviewer, mr. sir, wrote: I have looked into it and it appears that the reason “where’s waldo” was banned was because it features adult material such as “topless sunbathers” and other adult “hidden images”.

Despite these claims, I have not been able to find anyone who can cite a specific waldo book, by page number, that contains a wandering mama. avid waldo hunters are encouraged to submit any such evidence to the rogue librarian for inclusion in a future column.

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Where’s Waldo? Not in the libraries because he’s been banned

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