Robert J McCarty is a former Adjunct Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University and a former Instructor at the School of Visual Arts, New York City. He has written, produced, and directed documentary, educational, and industrial videos and films on a wide variety of subject matter ranging from teenage lifestyles to race relations, and from clinical computing to oceanography. His short film, Rooftops of New York, was nominated for an Academy Award®. The Planet of the Dogs series of early reader books were inspired by the many stories made up for his four children and five grandchildren. He is a graduate of Princeton University.