Coulton, Mia

Born:1950

Ohio Connection: Resident

Shaker Heights

Mia Coulton has combined her passion for teaching reading with her love of pets in creating the “Danny” books, which chronicle the escapades and misadventures of Danny, Coulton’s five-year-old Labrador retriever. Danny, who harbors a penchant for Velveeta cheese chunks, is often thwarted in his attempts to sample more substantial fare by Coulton’s husband, who frequently appears in the books as “Dad.” Coulton poses Danny in and out of costume for the photos she takes herself to illustrate her books. The pictures enliven the simple 10-page stories that are designed to meet the needs of students in the Reading Recovery program, which provides one-on-one tutoring to low-achieving first graders to help them read at grade level. A Reading Recovery teacher herself in the Shaker Heights schools for many years, Coulton now devotes herself exclusively to the Danny books and enjoys visiting schools accompanied by Danny himself.