Alexandra Day


Alexandra Day is an American children's book author. Alexandra Day is a pseudonym; her real name is Sandra Louise Woodward Darling. She is the author of Good Dog, Carl, which tells the story of a Rottweiler named Carl who looks after a baby named Madeleine. The book was first published in 1985 by Day's own publishing company, Green Tiger Press. Good Dog, Carl has been followed by a whole series of popular Carl books, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Day was born in 1941 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She and her husband, Harold Darling, founded a publishing company, Green Tiger Press, in 1970. Meanwhile, Day began a career in illustration, and illustrated her first book in 1983: The Teddy Bears' Picnic, based on a popular children's song by Jimmy Kennedy.
Day and her husband live in Seattle, Washington.

Carl Books

According to Day, the inspiration for Good Dog, Carl came from a trip to Zurich, Switzerland. Day was looking through antique picture sheets for her postcards when she found an image of a dog left to guard a baby. Day's own dog, a Rottweiler named Toby, was the model for the book's main character, and since then other family Rottweilers have been models for the books.
Carl's Christmas was a New York Times bestseller.

The Carl Series