Muns, Raleigh. "Where's Waldo? Not in the libraries because he's been banned"
The Current (University of Missouri-St. Louis) October 17, 2005 (vol. 38, no. 1164), p. 6
According
to the American Library Association's "Challenged and Banned Books"
web site (www.ala.org), Martin Handford's "Where's Waldo?"
was one of the top 100 most banned books between 1990 and 2000. The
ALA regularly registers complaints about books as well as actual book
bannings and keeps ongoing track of them. Consequently, the ALA releases
an annual list of the most banned books in America. The ALA also annually
celebrates "Banned Books Week" the last week of September.
The Top 10 Banned Books in 2004 range from John Steinbeck's "Of
Mice and Men" to the "Captain Underpants" series of juvenile
books. I have read the Steinbeck work (or seen the Mr. Magoo cartoon
version, I forget) but confess that I have never even heard of "Captain
Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman" (Dav Pilkey,
2001). I am intrigued. For those
who don't know about Waldo, the books consist of page after page of
intricately drawn scenes. The
reader must find Waldo amidst the cluttered illustrations containing
hundreds of active characters who are NOT Waldo. Since all the people
are drawn in miniature it is a true challenge of concentration to pick
the dimunitive protagonist from the legions of other characters. Waldo
books are often sold with a magnifying glass to facilitate searching. So why ban
Waldo? What would place this series of books alongside the last decade's
other banned titles 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 is it about poor Waldo
that got the book banners' panties all in a twist? What mysterious sin
in Waldo's background would cause such wrath and ire? One of my
Reference Librarian colleagues, Ms. Frances Piesbergen, did some research
and discovered a couple of interesting leads on this infamous Waldo
issue. According to the October 2003 "Banned Bookslut" column
by Chris Zammarelli (www.bookslut.com), the author claims that one of
the Waldo 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" got banned
was because it features adult material such as "topless sunbathers,"
and other adult "hidden pictures." Despite
these claims, I have been unable to find anyone yet who can cite a specific
Waldo book, by page number, containing an errant mammary. Avid Waldo
hunters are encouraged to forward any such evidence to the Rogue Librarian
for inclusion in a future column. This does
make me consider what else might be hidden in the complex world of Waldo.
I'm wondering if I'll find pictures of Waldo eating guinea pigs or engaging
in cannibalism. What if there are pictures of Waldo flashing the "hail
satan" hand sign? Could Waldo be gay? Not that there's anything
wrong with that, but it could explain the fury of the book banners.
Rumors abound that Waldo was seen in one picture hanging out with Tinky
Winky the Teletubby. The horror, the horror! In my humble
opinion, banning books just isn't groovy. |
Email Address: muns@umsl.edu
WWW Home Page URL:http://www.umsl.edu/~muns