Where's Wally?; Where's Wally Now?; Where's Wally? The Fantastic Journey; Where's Wally? In Hollywood; Where's Wally? The Wonder Book

It is ten years since Where's Wally?, the first book about the intrepid globetrotting hiker with his red and white hooped jumper, bobble hat and national health specs, was published. The name of the addictive game is to spot Wally on his travels around the world, hiding amongst a myriad of characters in each detailed illustration. In the classroom Wally books create both competition as each child tries to be first to spot him in the crowd and team work as the group celebrates their success at finding the elusive characters. The books appeal equally to girls and boys. For the individual child, triumph depends on finding Wally and thus not being beaten by the book.

Where's Wally? and its sequels are now reissued in special editions with Wally hiding in a new place on each spread. There are also four new characters (Wenda, Woof, Wizard Whitebread and Odlaw) to spot with an assortment of associated items. Making the task even more formidable are the 25 Wally Watchers, dressed similarly to our hero, who have to be identified during the course of each book and there is also one person on each spread who appears in each scene. There have been sales of 30 million copies of the original titles in over 20 different countries.

For first time Wally hunters, Where's Wally? is the simplest to tackle, as he treks through an airport, safari park and fairground. The historical, Where's Wally Now? sees a time-travelling Wally doing battle with Stone Age man, Aztecs, pirates and Ancient Romans. By the time Wally puzzlers have progressed to Where's Wally? The Fantastic Journey there are up to 2000 characters per spread to scan through compared to about 700 in Where's Wally? The fantastic journey takes Wally on an adventure among a throng of Gobbling Gluttons in search of a dozen special scrolls. Where's Wally? In Hollywood sees Wally concealed on the sets of such epics as 'Horseplay in Troy' and the fiendishly difficult 'Where's Wally? The Musical'.

Where's Wally? The Wonder Book is a totally new book. As complex an I-spy book as you will find, this demanding collection of technicoloured picture riddles has still more people crammed in per square centimetre. The most difficult part of reviewing this book was prising little fingers off it so that I could get a close look. When it came to spotting which 'Woof' was the only dog with five red stripes on his tail in 'The Land of Woofs' I had to admit defeat!

Incidentally, with 30 million copies sold I reckon that's over 700 billion Where's Wally? characters in print.