142 – Where’s Wally Has Lore

The Children's Literature Podcast

This was supposed to be a short video about a good use of localization in children’s books and then I found out that Where’s Wally has far deeper lore than you would expect. And then my wacky imagination ran with it.

Lots of localization is annoying, because it’s done by publishers who don’t have confidence that children can understand foreign words or cultural references. This can strip away the flavor of a book, but the Where’s Wally series by Martin Handford is a really great example of localization because these books are not about plot so much as making a personal connection with the children who scrutinize the massive pictures full of funny little vignettes.

What’s Wally called where you live? Which one of the books or pictures is your favorite? Also, what do you think of my interpretation of the surprisingly deep lore of these characters?