BusinessNEWS

Those raccoon lovers are at it again—with kids book

The classic book series Where’s Waldo? now has competition — Toronto-style — as a fun-filled raccoon book hits the shelves.

The bright, fun and colourful Find TorontoRaccoons has been launched by marketing partners Ken Gruber and Berta Mascarenhas, who live in East York and the Beaches, respectively.

For Christmas 2017, they created a raccoon calendar which was a big seller in local stores. It’s become an annual publication.

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About five months ago they brainstormed about a Waldo-type book to follow up with this year.

“My kids loved Waldo,” Gruber said. “I had a bunch of Waldo books kicking around the house.  I thought we should do something similar,  Waldo was a fun idea and we thought we could marry the two ideas.”

The book is selling for $19.99 with a portion of proceeds going to the Toronto Wildlife Centre.

“The book is small, but that was the point,”Mascarenhas said. “It is not cumbersome, it is a novelty book that is meant to be sold in various shops that attract tourist.”

Toronto Raccoons Beaches
CAN YOU FIND THEM: Page from Find TorontoRaccoons hides raccoons around The Beaches, one of many communities featured in the puzzle book.

The book is now sold in small community shops like VII Design + Gifts, Coles, Outer Layer and Spacing Store, to name a few. It is soon to hit the shelves in Toronto tourist areas like Harbourfront and Kensington Market.

Viive Tork, owner of the VII Designs + Gifts shop on Danforth Avenue, says her shop is all thing unique and vintage — which the book suits.

“People are loving it,” she said. “Little kids are looking at it and it keeps them occupied for a while. I usually give a book to a child while their parents are shopping.

She expects it to be a hot seller, she said.

You can also purchase Find TorontoRaccoons online.