Laughing Elephant Books is an independent publisher based in San Diego. The company crafts books that are tactile, well designed, and often surprising, in areas such as classic children’s stories, pop culture, gifts, and food and drink. It is most widely known for the best-seller, Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Led Zeppelin, and the perennially popular Good Dog Carl series of books, several of which have been translated into Spanish, Japanese, and French. Significant authors include Alexandra Day, Cooper Edens, and Michael Hague. 

First established in 1993 by Harold and Sandra Darling, it is the sequel to their former publishing house, Green Tiger Press, which was acquired by Simon & Schuster in 1990. Laughing Elephant Books is now owned by their son Benjamin Darling.

Green Tiger Press:

Before Laughing Elephant Books was founded, in 1970, Harold Darling established the Green Tiger Press, a small publisher of books, posters and greeting cards. 

The company distinguished itself through meticulously made books and the use of charming illustrations from a library of over 5,000 pre-1940s antique and vintage children’s books, calendars, paintings, and posters. Among the many innovative books published, highlights include The Unicorn Book, If you’re Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow, The Teddy Bear’s Picnic, and of course, the wildly popular Good Dog Carl series. 

In 1990, the persistent pressure of funding a rapidly growing small publishing company led the Darling's to sell Green Tiger Press to Simon and Schuster. The Darling family focused on authoring books for other publishers and making and distributing greeting cards and gift products under a newly established company, Laughing Elephant Books. The popular Good Dog Carl series was picked up and published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux instead. 

The Green Tiger Press imprint was re-acquired in the early 2000s by Harold and Sandra Darling and began reprinting some of the old classics as well as making new children’s and gift books under the Laughing Elephant name.  

Present Day:

Harold Darling passed away in 2016, leaving behind a legacy of over 500 books published, and over 20,000 books and 100,000 pieces of paper ephemera in his personal collection. These vintage images still feed and inspire the work of Laughing Elephant today and are also licensed to multiple museums and art institutions internationally. 

In 2019, the family split the business into two divisions. Sandra Darling and her son Chev Darling took on the gift division, while Benjamin Darling, one of her other sons, managed the book division.