Where's Walrus?

Where's Walrus?

by Stephen A. Savage

A happy-go-lucky Walrus escapes the zoo in search of adventure in this wordless instant classic. Bored with life at the zoo, an adventurous walrus escapes to the outside world. With the zookeeper in hot pursuit, Walrus cleverly tries on all sorts of hats to disguise himself. Will a yellow hardhat point to a new life as a construction worker? Or will a red swimming cap reveal his true talents? Follow the happy-go-lucky runaway as he hides amongst firefighters, businessmen, and even high-stepping dancers in this delightful wordless picture book.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Humor, Storytime, Fiction, Juvenile

32 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2011

About the author

Brooklyn-based Stephen Savage is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of 15 books for children. He is the recipient of a New York Times Best Illustrated Book award, a Sendak Fellowship, and a Geisel Honor.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book has no words the way The Book with No Pictures has no pictures.

i do not know which book would win in a fight, but i do know that this book is adorable. because of the pictures. without the pictures, it would just be a blank book, and i would like it less.

this one is about a walrus who escapes from the zoo and has adventures while hiding from the zookeeper who is desperately trying to make him come back. i mean, i assume it is about that. without words, it is open to interpretation. maybe the walrus only works at the zoo and this book is a story about what he does on his day off. we will never know for sure. but what we are certain of is that sometimes this walrus is good at blending in and other times not so much.







and "where's walrus" is a game you can even play in nature!











okay, so some of those are seals, but if you squint, it's still awesome.

i will return to reviewing more serious and adult books soon, after this heat and holiday are behind me...



come to my blog!

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple gets a bum rap. Simple is difficult. Simple is complicated. Take picture books. When a story is boiled down to 32 pages and even fewer illustrations, there is no room for error. And if the text is removed? We’re talking a tightrope walk’s worth of difficulty. A book can flounder, or in the much rarer instance, succeed in a manner that makes the whole thing seem like no sweat. Such is the case with Stephen Savage’s delightful Where’s Walrus?. You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone immune to the considerable charms of this wordless picture book. Young readers will flock.

When an open gate allows Walrus to escape from his tank, the zookeeper searches high and low to find him. Each two-page spread highlights a different location – water fountain, storefront, restaurant, etc. Each time Walrus humorously blends into the surroundings to evade capture. But when the zookeeper finally finds his escaped charge delighting an audience with amazing high-platform dives, Walrus returns to the zoo – this time as the featured attraction.

The illustrations are the definition of retro bold – simple and clear. White space plays an important role, focusing the reader’s attention and allowing Where’s Walrus? to work well at read-aloud distance.

Where’s Walrus? is a crowd-pleasing testament to the beauty of simple. Be sure to add this to your shelf.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Description: A happy-go-lucky Walrus escapes the zoo in search of adventure in this wordless instant classic.

Bored with life at the zoo, an adventurous walrus escapes to the outside world. With the zookeeper in hot pursuit, Walrus cleverly tries on all sorts of hats to disguise himself. Will a yellow hardhat point to a new life as a construction worker? Or will a red swimming cap reveal his true talents? Follow the happy-go-lucky runaway as he hides amongst firefighters, businessmen, and even high-stepping dancers in this delightful wordless picture book.

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another wordless book that my grandson (under two) just loves. Walrus escapes from the zoo on a boring day and has some adventures while the zookeeper chases after him. Our favorite scene is the one where walrus joins the can-can dancers. We all have to kick one leg along with them, lol. Cute book!

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

WE had to go to the library again yesterday, because Veronica's request, which she had been eagerly awaiting finally came in, and because it's the summer reading program, which means things to register to win, and books to donate, and then there's a librarian to great in Mandarin....

I'm trying not to bring in more books because I have a backlog, shelved in a horizontal stack in front of the books shelved in the usual way on the bookcases, and a near-to-toppling stack on the bedside table, and another stack on the floor in front of the table. But while I was waiting for the girls to go about their businesses, I looked at the new shelves in the kid's section. It was just sitting there, all in-my-face. So I checked it out. And then read it from one of the comfy chairs on the other side of the doors, while still waiting for the girls to be done.

And it was great. I like the simple graphic style of the art. And I like the joke of the thing. It's all good, whether you're very young and like to look at a book repeatedly, or older, and want to enjoy a little visual humor.

Library copy.

[Michelle Doerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where's Walrus is a picture book intended for nursery readers. This colorful yet simply illustrated book follows a walrus who escaped from the zoo. He tries on all sorts of different hats throughout the city, such as a firefighter, a dancer, and a construction worker, to blend in. All along the zoo security is following him. He is finally returned to the zoo and treated to a nice, big, new habitat. His new habitat allows him to have fun and entertain the zoo visitors. I like this story because books with no words allow the children to be very interactive during the story. Each child had a different way of looking at what the walrus was doing. For example, when wearing the business hat one child said he was having coffee while another said he was going to work. Where's Walrus is appealing to young readers because they like guessing and seeing what the walrus will do next. They were also happy that the walrus got a big pool at the end of the story. They concluded that the walrus escaped because he was bored and now he will not be anymore. Another theme you can instruct to young readers is be yourself. The walrus wanted to try and be multiple other things, but in the end he figured out that playing in the water is what walrus's do best!

[Emm Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a "First Reads" winner, but we would have read it anyway, had we found it at the library first. It is a sweet and funny book about a rascally Walrus who has his own notion of how to spend a fun day: out of the Zoo! The Zookeeper(who sports a walrus mustache) chases after him, only to be foiled by Walrus's many disguises and clever hiding spots. The story is told by pictures only, which means that we get to tell it as we see it, and Rabbit and Bear get to tell us their own versions as well. The illustrations are simple and bright; the story has a lovely ending that showcases the Walrus's very special talents. A real treat and one that we are so glad to include in our family library!

Rabbit(4 yrs old) adds by way of his own review: "I like ;Where's Walrus; because it is about a Walrus who runs away and gets chased around. I like running and chasing too. It is a good chase book!"

Edited to add:
I just looked at the Amazon site for this book, and they have a really cute promotional video for this book! Check it out here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalin...

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wordless picture book, which I won in a giveaway, is a quiet charmer. It plays gently with the concept of "seek and find" style books -- on most of the pages a run-away walrus is "hidden" somewhere in plain sight -- slightly camouflaged but ridiculously obvious at the same time. My seven-year old found this hilarious. His younger brother took it more at face value, and just enjoyed pointing to the walrus on each page. There is a slight narrative arc to the book -- it turns out the walrus was bored with its quarters at the zoo and needed an outlet for its unique talents, which it gets at the end -- although if I were the walrus I still would want to escape. There's a retro feel to this book, which is appealing enough when it comes to the illustration style (blocky shapes and a few simple colors), but less so when it comes to the depiction of the zoo -- no simulation of a natural environment for this walrus. Still, we'll be keeping this one. The boys thought it was fun; their mother was enchanted to see it was signed by the author complete with walrus illustration. Thank you.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walrus escapes from the zoo and the zookeeper goes behind him.

At every page we find Walrus hiding disguised in a different situation: in a fountain, among the firefighters, or dancing in a stage. It's funny that the only thing he uses to disguise himself is a hat!

Only when Walrus loses his hat the zookeeper sees him, just on time to enjoy his amazing skills as a diver.

Although I find this wordless book just fine, my kids loved it. Looking for Walrus at each page proved to be super entertaining for them. I should clarify that Walrus is at plain sight (you can see an example in the cover). It's not challenging to find him.

I found funny my 6 years-old son humming a typical "persecution" tune he probably heard from a cartoon while reading the book to himself.

Check out more children's book reviews in my Reviews in Chalk Blog!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am personally not a huge fan of wordless books. That being said the kids thought this one was so funny and I didn't find it horrible 😃

[Kathleen Whitaker]

In the wordless picture book "Wheres Walrus", by Stephen Savage, young children ages 3 and up get
a chance to search for the walrus using visual clues. As the zookeeper naps "walrus" decides to
explore the city. As he travels he blends-in. Having the child/children show me where "walrus" is and how he disguised himself so that the zookeeper didn't notice him is a source of fun and learning. This book is a fun and silly book for boys and girls ages 3 and up I found this book listed on the IRA Childrens and Young Adult Book Awards, 2012. According to "The Bulletin of
the Center fr Children's Book", February 2011, under awards, for this book received 7 awards;
ALA Notable Childrens book/Wall Street Journal, top ten/Publishers Weekly, top ten/The Horn Book,
best childrens book of the year/Kirkus Reviews, best children's book of the year/New York Public
Library, best book for readig and sharing/Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this wordless picture book, a walrus escapes from the zoo and leads the zookeepers on a merry chase. Young readers will adore his antics as he tries to blend in everywhere he goes, playing hide and seek in some unlikely places. This one reminds me of the Where's Waldo? books that were popular a few years ago. Who would think that a walrus could wreak so much havoc and fool so many folks for so long?

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun book! Savage's wordless book is very stylized and quite amusing. A walrus escapes from the zoo and runs around the city entertaining himself. A chagrined zookeeper chases the walrus through a restaurant, kick line, and park before catching up with him at a diving contest.

I enjoyed the illustrations so much that I almost forgot that there was a problem -- the escaped walrus. The last picture neatly and, at least for me, unexpectedly resolves the problem.

Highly recommended!

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this highly amusing, wordless picture book, a renegade walrus outsmarts its zookeeper by escaping and finding ways to absurdly blend in to everyday situations. The illustrator's deft hand successfully creates a thoroughly engaging retro look. The title will stand up to multiple re-reads for both kids and adults.

[The Library Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was never a fan of the "Where's Waldo" series, but this is a delightful twist on it for young kids. There is a lovely retro look to the book and the humor shines through each picture. Terrific fun for both adults and kids.

[Alyson (Kid Lit Frenzy) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this wordless picture book. Walrus escapes from the zoo. While the zookeeper seeks to find him, Walrus has a great adventure.

[Dest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple, funny, awesome. Walrus is not hard to find, but kids will still have fun poring over his disguises.

[Carrie Gelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple but clever. Fun to read with someone else - ideally a little someone else and tell the story together!

[April Thompson Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where's Waldo: animal edition!

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A search and find book for the youngest. Can you find where Walrus has run off to? What is he doing around town? Will he ever make it back to the zoo? Wordless, but not less fun.

[Andrea Holley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where’s Walrus? is a picture book about a clever, camouflaging Walrus who escapes from his unnatural habitat in the local zoo.- a swimming pool. In the middle of summer the walrus decides to make a dash for the entrance which has been left unattended by the sleeping zoos animal attendant.
The animal attendant awakes from his nap as the walrus is sliding out of the main gate, “oh my where is he going”?, the zoo keeper thinks. The lonely worker must quickly find the walrus in the big city. Travelling with his net in hand the zoo keeper goes on a quest only to be tricked by the walrus who is camouflaging with the cities features. The walrus takes great joy in blending in as a hat model, bricklayer, artist, water fountain statue, fire-walrus/man, a patron at the local diner, and even as an actor in a broadway dance, and finally as a competitor in the nations swimming challenge. Scoring a perfect 10 in the diving competition, it should come as no surprise, that the clever walrus not only can escape the zoo keeper through his camouflaging skills but also pulls a fast one over the competition judges and wins the first place medal in diving. Will the zoo-keeper finally be able to reel the walrus back into the zoo?

I really enjoyed reading this wordless book. The pictures were very realistic as I could truly imagine the walrus visiting these places in a city. The humorous antics in which the author used the walrus to trick the zoo-keeper were riveting. I would highly recommend this book because of its vibrant colors, the different scenes, and the story line. I was not expecting the ending to be a public showcase of the walruses ability’ to dive in a now square shaped pool. I was able to use my imagination from the pictures and create a storyline which helped me to understand the story in a kid like manner. This book should be in every PREK- 3rd grade teachers classroom library.

[Sue Winson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story lady "read" this during the library story-time session. The children and the parents loved it. They laughed, pointed at the book, and laughed again. I borrowed this book from the library, and showed it to little-AJ again. He giggled, frantically looking for the walrus at each double-page, pointed at the walrus excitedly, and giggled again.

This is a really fun book to share with your two-year-old or under. There is no word in this book, so you would have to create your own texts and narrate the story using your own words.

A cheeky walrus escaped from the zoo. The frantic zoo keeper looking up and down for the walrus, who cleverly disguised himself and blended into the surroundings. First, the walrus became a mermaid statue at the fountain, then he was a red-hat mannequin at the shop window, next he camouflaged himself as a helmeted firefighter holding the water hose etc.

The walrus is conspicuous and can be spotted very easily. But for a 20-month old, this spotting-the-walrus game is great fun and very satisfying. The last few pages show walrus discovering its new talent as an accomplished platform diver, and how it became a diving star in the zoo.

The illustrations are basic, clean, obvious, and easily understood by young toddlers. We love this book.

Blog review: https://storypleasemummy.wordpress.co...

[Fatima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where’s Walrus is a wordless book for children ages 3-7. It is about a walrus escaping the zoo and a zookeeper going after him. The walrus tries to hide through a series of different hats. The book is mainly black and white and for each hat in which he hides in, we can see how vibrant in color it is which is different from the entire book. I think this is a good strategy for a book because children can learn several colors from this wordless book and learn how to distinguish each. The illustrations are great, not only because it’s a wordless book, but because it is really simple for children to engage with. The author takes them on a journey to find the walrus, which is fun for children because they can search for the walrus as they go. The book is coherent from beginning to end. We can see from the illustrations how the walrus escapes as the zookeeper goes after him. Then we see the walrus disguise himself under several hats, meanwhile the zookeeper looks for him. Later, we can see that the walrus enjoys doing tricks in a pool and ends up winning a medal. He then returns to the zoo where he gets a bigger swimming area where he can perform his trips. Overall, I thought this book was great to have in a classroom. It engages students to better their observational skills by trying to find the walrus themselves. It is very short and simple for them to “read”.

[Lojayn Ottman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Steven Savage's wordless picture book, "Where's Walrus?", readers are invited to capture an escaped walrus with its bewildered zookeeper. Camouflaging itself, the walrus plays smoothly into various roles that are unbelievable, even to the target audience (Pre-K, K, 1st), but still entertaining.

I enjoyed this picture book immensely. I do not remember the last time I read a wordless story, so it brought me back to stretching my imagination. Throughout "reading" this brightly colored and minimally media-ed book, I found myself imagining what kind of word choices would Savage use if it were to become filled with language. This could be great for young children to practice identifying colors, shapes, and ideas.

I gave it 4 stars because I thought the walrus's disguises were clever and relatable to things children see everyday. I know my 6 year old sister enjoyed "finding what did not fit in the story" and for children to be engaged, and therefore encouraged to read even more, made this book stand out, even just with it's illustrations.

[Aaron Fontes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this a lovely little romp about a walrus's antics after escaping the zoo. However, I think it needs a bit more structure to truly excel. The only true elements of cause and effect is at the beginning and end of the book, which makes it a bit difficult to ask questions of the audience about extracting more meaning from this *wordless* picture book, since otherwise the illustrations follow the same general theme and are pretty clear in meaning. Otherwise, the illustrations are delightful. They have a delightful amount of color and stylization, and are brimming with levity and personality. And while the structure is a bit annoying to work with, this book is still a very nice book to entertain a kid with an affinity for humor and mirth.

[Helena Pereira · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is about a Walrus escaping the zoo and a guard in pursuit of his finding. I personally did not enjoy this book. I find the illustrations to be very impersonal and prosaic. The story line itself is decent and pertains to imagination, creating a wondering about caged animal. I just found the book to be dull, using cold, basic color schemes with no particularly attaching characters. They all didn't seem to show too much expression and therefore, no sense of connection really forms with the audience. I feel like if you want to create a good wordless picture book, your illustrations need to speak for you. The touch to the paper, color scheme, and details matter. This book simply bored you visually.

[Kyle Fillat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just looking at the cover of Where’s Walrus made me want to read the book. The art on the cover looks cartoonish and animated with a walrus dressing up as a business man. The walrus has escaped from the zoo. The walrus is hiding from the zookeeper who has a net. The walrus pretends to be a female mannequin in a mall window. The walrus hides as a construction worker, a statue in a fountain, and many other things to make children laugh. Next the walrus puts on a fire helmet and pretends to be a firefighter. The fact that the Zookeeper cannot identify the walrus would make little kids laugh. At the end of the book the walrus wins a medal in a diving competition and the zookeeper lets him have his own diving board and the zoo so the walrus comes back.

[Katie Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book includes no words, but it does include a valuable lesson that I teach my students! I have used this book with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students, and this is one of their favorite books. Throughout the pages, students have to find the Walrus hidden in the pictures. It's not as difficult as a Where's Waldo story, because the Walrus is often hidden in plain sight. The students follow the Walrus as he escapes from the Zoo and travels throughout a city, being chased by the zookeeper. This book teaches my students valuable lessons about making inferences. The author doesn't tell them a thing about the story with words, so students have to make inferences to understand each aspect of the plot. This is such a fun book!

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wordless picture books can be challenging to pull off well, to have enjoyable art and still have an effective story told, all without text. Walrus's adventures pull this off well. He gets up to quite a lot on his day out from the zoo! It's a fun one that could still be a storytime read - the pictures are big and bold and clear enough that an audience can play seek and find for Walrus just as easily as someone reading one-on-one. I can imagine using it for a theme on zoos, walruses, hide and seek/games...

[Kat Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Where's Walrus?" stands out as a wordless picture book because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Without any text, Stephen Savage still manages to give enough heft to his illustrations that kids will be enchanted by their humor, as well as how they move the plot forward. And if you're especially creative, there's even a tiny game of "I Spy" that one can play while paging through the Walrus' escape. Would be great to use as a writing prompt for students!