On The Publication Day of CIAO, SANDRO!, A Look Back at Its Real-life Inspiration

 

 

Today is the publication day of my children's picture book Ciao, Sandro!, featuring illustrations by Luciano Lozano, so it seemed like a good time to remember the adventurous real life dog who inspired the book, who was indeed named Sandro (as is my son, which is actually why I didn't change the dog's name for the book), and who did in fact know how to take vaporetti all around the lagoon by himself. 

The real-life Sandro died just short of his 19th birthday two years ago. His fictionalized version can now be found for sale online and/or in your local bookstore--as well as in Venice's own Libreria Marco Polo (the international publication date is June 10).