See Danny Teach
As printed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer Monday, March 25, 2002
Fran Henry
Plain Dealer Reporter
Danny, a handsome blond, is an easygoing guy, but that's just half
the reason he does what Mia Coulton wants. The other half is cheese.
"Velveeta cheese," she specifies. Coulton keeps a bag of Velveeta
chunks in her pocket when she takes pictures of Danny, her 5-year-old
yellow Labrador retriever. When he sits patiently for a photo - which
is every time - Coulton tosses him a chunk of cheese.
It's a mutually profitable arrangement. Danny enjoys his snacks,
and Coulton gets photographs to illustrate her series of children's
books, which star Danny, of course. Six books debuted in September,
including "Haloween Danny," "Danny and the Four Seasons," "Danny
and Abby Are Friends," "Look at Danny," "Danny's Dinner" and
"Danny Gets Fit." Three more are in production.
The books are short, the type-face and pages deliberately clean,
simple and "uncreative," says Coulton. She writes and designs them to
meet the needs of Reading Recovery students, who are low-achieving
first graders who receive one-on-one tutoring daily until they can read
at grade level. It takes an average of 15 weeks to bring a child's
reading up to his class level.
The program was developed in New Zealand in the 1970s and has
become widely used in the United States, Canada, Australia and
England. The Spanish language version, Descubriendo la Lectura, is
used in areas of high Hispanic population.
Coulton's little books, averaging 10 pages in a small paper-back
format, have been well received, says Elizabeth Larrabee, a Cleveland
area Reading Recovery teacher-leader.
"They're not only cute, they're well written and well designed," she
says.
"And the children love them."
Coulton, who has been a Reading Recovery teacher in Shaker
Heights schools for 13 years, tests her books on her own students
before publication.
"At the end, there's got to be a little joke," she says. "These kids are
smart, and they get a joke. They laugh and want to read the book
again. Then they want to read it to someone else."
The payoff
She revels in fan letters from first-graders nationwide and delights in
success stories her books have inspired.
"This is the biggest deal," she says, grinning as she tells the story of
a little girl living at New Life Community, which offers transitional
housing for the homeless. An employee there, Coulton's neighbor Jan
Thrope, heard the girl was having trouble reading, so she gave her
some Danny books. A few days later, the child ran to Thrope yelling,
"I can read!" Thrope arranged for Coulton to meet the child, who
happily read some Danny books to Coulton.
"It's a thrill when that light bulb goes on, when all of a sudden the
child gets it," says Coulton. "This is fun."
By the way, Thrope owns Abby, the golden Lab who appears in
"Danny and Abby are Friends." Abby also will appear in upcoming
Danny books, including "Danny and the Bully," in which she portrays
the wise dog who teaches Danny how to deal with a bully named
Spike, a bearded collie; and "Where's Abby?" in which Danny searches
the neighborhood for Abby and eventually finds her waiting at his
doorstep.
Learning to shoot
Coulton had to start from scratch when she conceived of her Danny
books. She knew nothing about photography and had no suitable
camera, so she and her husband, Rob, bought a 35 mm camera and
took a course together.
"He wanted to sit in back, and I wanted to sit in front," says
Coulton, laughing.
Then she began photographing Danny in costumes and putting them
on a Web site she was designing. She shared her ideas with Larrabee,
who offered her lots of encouragement.
"She has a gift there," says Larabee.
When Coulton's first book, "Haloween Danny," was a hit with
teachers and students alike, she wrote and produced the next five,
roping in her husband to help.
Rob Coulton, Cleveland Clinic administrator of professional affairs,
appears in several books - but only from the head down. In "Danny
Gets Fit," Rob Coulton plays "Dad" the helpful fellow who eggs on
Danny to get more exercise, drink more water and eat properly. Under
Danny's mournful gaze, "Dad" dumps a pancake into the trash, saying,
"You need to eat a good breakfast. No pancakes for you."
Mia Coulton also drafted her husband and their three children, Kate
(18), Beth (24) and Robby (21), into helping her sell the Danny series
at a national Reading Recovery conference in Columbus in February.
About 150 six-book sets sold, she says, and the exposure has generated
a daily stream of mail orders.
Danny barks, and Coulton suggests he's angling for a photo shoot
that will earn him a snack. But Coulton has other plans for the day,
and her plans trump his.
"I'm the alpha dog," she says, smiling, "and don't you forget it,
Danny."