Alexandra Day is
the pseudonym for Sandra Louise Woodward Darling. She is the author of Good
Dog, Carland the rest of the beloved Carl books, including Carl Goes Shopping, Carl’s Christmas, Carl’s Birthday and Carl’s Snowy Afternoon. Darling
was born in 1941 in Cincinnati,
Ohio, to a large and close-knit
family. Painting was a popular family recreation, and almost every family
excursion included one or more easels and a variety of sketch pads, chalks,
paints, and pencils. For four years, the family lived on a hundred-acre farm in
Kentucky.
Here young Sandra grew especially fond of riding and training horses, and
became a dog owner for the first time. Living in the country also provided
plenty of time for reading, a life-long passion.
Sandra illustrated her first book in 1983: The Teddy Bears' Picnic, a
popular children's song by Jimmy Kennedy. That same year, she was visiting Zurich, Switzerland,
when she came across a volume of old German picture sheets, one of which featured
a poodle playing with a baby who was supposed to be taking a nap. This image
proved the inspiration for Good Dog, Carl. The Darlings' own
dog, a Rottweiler named Toby, was the model for the book's main character.
Since then, two other Darling Rottweilers have posed as Carl in the seven
sequels: the late Arambarri, who was named for one of the Darlings' favorite
jai alai players; and Zabala, who currently moonlights as an Our Best Friend
therapy dog, visiting hospitals to cheer patients.
Have you been to Carl's Own Website yet? Here it is!
