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Beautiful Joe
Based on true events, Beautiful Joe tells the story of a dog that is rescued from the hands of a cruel master who removes his ears and tail in a fit of anger. The Morris family comes to his aid and carefully nurses the dog back to health, giving him the name, Beautiful Joe.
Originally published in 1894, it is told from the perspective of Joe himself, who quickly finds that...more
Originally published in 1894, it is told from the perspective of Joe himself, who quickly finds that...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
2009
by Puffin Canada
(first published 1893)
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My mom introduced me this story when I was only about 8 years old, as I was an animal empath all of my life. Keeping with the tradition of Black Beauty, one has to understamd that this book was written more for simple people who didn't understand in the late 1800's and early 1900's that animals had souls and could feel pain. Marshall Saunders does an excellent job of teaching that it isn't easy living at the mercy of cruel humans in the same way as Black Beauty and I love books that are told fro...more
Sep 20, 2010
Kim
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
all children between about 8-11 years old
Recommended to Kim by:
Donna Fay
Shelves:
child-teen-fiction,
2010
My aunt gave this book to us this summer and said that she had read and loved it when she was about 8 years old. It is about a dog who was born on a farm with a very abusive owner. The dog is soon rescued and taken in by a loving family. Kaitlyn loved it and always begged me to read more. We were instructed that the book is to share with all our cousins but Kaitlyn doesn't want to give it up. She is now starting to read it a second time on her own. My aunt tells me that there is a cemetery in On...more
Beautiful Joe has been compared to the groundbreaking Black Beauty since its publication in 1893. This first person story of an abused dog runs many parallels to Black Beauty and Margaret Marshall Saunders made no secret of having been inspired and greatly influenced by the horse novel. The two even met comparable success. Black Beauty was already famous and Beautiful Joe soon became the best-selling Canadian novel ever. (Though the true story it is loosely based on took place in Canada, the nov...more
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Often described as the Canadian version of Black Beauty, Beautiful Joe is a great book for young aspiring animal activists. Saunders was way beyond her time when she wrote on behalf of the humane treatment of a wide variety of animals, from domestic pets like cats and dogs, to farm animals like chickens and cows. Through the voice of a mutt named Beautiful Joe, she draws attention to the injustices done to animals, injustices that still continue today.
As a story itself, I felt it was lacking...more
As a story itself, I felt it was lacking...more
My grandmother gave me her copy of this book when I was 11. Her copy was printed in 1934 and it is one of the oldest books I own. The story was very hard for me to read, not because of difficulty with words, but because of the content. Even though it was hard to read I devoured the book during my 18 hour car ride back to my parents house in CA. I finished it before I got home. The book details the life of a dog named Beautiful Joe. He is a 'cur', what we would call a 'mix' or a 'mutt' now, and h...more
For the most part I liked this book. I enjoyed the Beautiful Joe's narratives of his adventures and those of his animal siblings in the household he came to call home. If the whole book would have been about that I would have loved it more unfortunately it wasn't and I found much of the communication spoken by his humans about animal rights to be rather preachy. Normally I would be all over this because I LOVE animals but it was overbearing at times. I had to keep reminding myself of when the bo...more
FREE KINDLE DOWNLOAD but bits of poetry missing here and there. After the success of Black Beauty in raising awareness of the cruelty to horses in America, the Humane Society started a contest for manuscripts that might do the same for small animals. Beautiful Joe won the contest and was published to great acclaim around the turn of the 20th century. Narrated by the dog, Joe, it chronicles his early life when he was horribly abused, to the remainder of his life in the home of a large, loving fam...more
I was pleasantly surprised to find a book written in a dog's voice in 1893, and I absolutely loved it. And the voice - Beautiful Joe's - is indeed a beautiful voice. His voice is genuine and loveable, and his perspective is believable. The book also gives an historical account of the way animals were treated in America at that time. I found it sad that so little has changed since then in respect to the abuse, neglect, and abandonment of animals and the lack of laws to protect them. Beautiful Joe...more
Jul 23, 2012
booklady
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
1960s,
adventure,
all-ages,
autobiography,
children,
classic,
crime,
favorites,
fiction,
worth-reading-over-and-over
Read this as a child, loved it and have never forgotten it was a favorite, although my memory of the details is dim. I do know Joe stole my heart. Have wanted to reread it for a long time.
It cracked me up to read the boy's review below that says he liked the horse book he read, read this because his sisters loved it, that it was OK, but twice as good as Little Women. That pretty much sums up Beautiful Joe. I bought it for Sophie, so skimmed it to see if it was a good as I remembered. My sisters and I reread this book yearly and cried and cried. We wanted to have lots of pets, our parents didn't, so after the cats were run over on our busy street and the canary died, we'd read Bea...more
I loved this book as a kid. I got it for free out of some library discards and read it until the cover fell off. In more recent years, I found it available on Kindle (also for free) and now own it once again. It's a sweet story about an ugly dog made more so by the way he's treated until he finds a family to love him, and there are times when I read it as an adult that the good family seemed sappily preachy about the proper care of their animals. The bad characters are sooo bad, and the good one...more
This was one of the first long books I ever read, when I was about eight years old. It was my introduction to a world where animals are cruelly treated, and rescued by caring people. Like Black Beauty, it's narrated by a dog who, as a puppy, was mutilated by having his ears and tail cut off by a cruel drunk. But it's also the story of how he came to be loved, and of his human family, who were stoutly for animal rights long before PETA. I read it again not long ago. Though its age shows a bit in...more
A great book for kids. Teaches love and compassion for all living beings, and creates a caring perspective for children!
Wow this was painful to read. It's a kids classic, so I thought I would rip through it pretty quick...but no...
Beautiful Joe is the story of a dog in his own words. Think Black Beauty if you've ever read the book or watched the movie. The only difference is book really encompasses all kinds of animals, rather than just focusing on one type.
So Beautiful Joe is a dog who was abused by his first master. Had his ears and tail chopped off with an axe because the guy got in a bad mood. Luckily for him...more
Beautiful Joe is the story of a dog in his own words. Think Black Beauty if you've ever read the book or watched the movie. The only difference is book really encompasses all kinds of animals, rather than just focusing on one type.
So Beautiful Joe is a dog who was abused by his first master. Had his ears and tail chopped off with an axe because the guy got in a bad mood. Luckily for him...more
Mar 24, 2013
Patricia
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
animal lovers, children who are animal lovers
When I was five years old my mother bought me this book at a goodwill in louisville for five cents. i remember seeing the picture of beautiful joe on the cover and found myself wanting to know why his little ears were cropped. the copy i had had been beaten up itself - the spine was held together with masking tape.
it was the first real book i read and i've read it many times throughout my life. as michael and i ready ourselves for a child, i thought it would be good to re-read this book. i'm su...more
it was the first real book i read and i've read it many times throughout my life. as michael and i ready ourselves for a child, i thought it would be good to re-read this book. i'm su...more
"My name is Beautiful Joe, and I am a brown dog of medium size."
Beautiful Joe: The Autobiography of a Dog was written in 1893 by Margaret Marshall Saunders. The author used a male pen name because she feared she would not be taken seriously as a woman writer. I picked up a copy at a used book sale on a strength of a recommendation of a friend, and while I enjoyed the story of a loyal dog who comes to a loving family after having been savagely mistreated, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I...more
Beautiful Joe: The Autobiography of a Dog was written in 1893 by Margaret Marshall Saunders. The author used a male pen name because she feared she would not be taken seriously as a woman writer. I picked up a copy at a used book sale on a strength of a recommendation of a friend, and while I enjoyed the story of a loyal dog who comes to a loving family after having been savagely mistreated, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I...more
I've been looking for this book for years. The last time I read it, must have been in 1983. That was when I was still in school and all I could remember was the shelf from which I fetched it and the dog on the cover! The scene that's haunted me ever since (and which is why I really wanted to read it again) was when young Joe goes to hide in the bramble bushes to die ... the rest was just a haze (except, of course, that a dog wrote the book, which my mother thought very funny). So, what a pleasur...more
Apr 15, 2010
Eva Leger
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
every animal lover on earth
Recommended to Eva by:
Jeannie and Suzanna (thanks guys!) :D
I can't believe I made it 32 years without knowing about Beautiful Joe. I so wish I had been introduced to this book as a child - I can only imagine how many times I'd have read it between then and now. I won't make that same mistake with my daughter. I'm going to buy a copy of this for us and always keep it around. I'll read it to her in a few years and then hopefully a few years later she'll be reading it herself.
I would have liked this book to be five times as long as it is. It's rare to fin...more
I would have liked this book to be five times as long as it is. It's rare to fin...more
A friend aroused my curosity on this book and I have to agree with her rating of two stars. It is cute when the dog is telling his story, but really drags on when human characters in the book tell theirs. I can definetly see where this book was written for the Humane Society. Being a dog lover and a dog trainer, it just didn't move me like other animal books I have read.
I remember this book vividly, as I was on the captivated me as a reader when I was young. I have to say that I read this book at my school's library. It was one of the books there were getting rid off and it was the one that I grabbed, having never read it before. I have very fond memories of reading this book over and over again.
I read this a few times when I was young. It is not my normal genre of books, but I remember finding it fascinating to read from the point of view of a dog. It taught some very good values and lessons. It reminds me of the Victorian Era. A good book.
My copy is from 1920.... my FAVORITE book as a kid. One of the few books I read over and over. Found another copy in an antique store and just had to have it. Original author was "Marshall Saunders" - later published by Margaret Marshall Saunders.
Jan 26, 2013
Randy Harvey
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
aaa-my-top-shelf
This was the first book I read cover to cover. It is responsible for turning me into a voracious reader in the fifth grade. A tragic but heartwarming story that made me cry then and makes me cry even today. Wow-underful! A must read for young adolescents.
I did not finish this. After reading so many reviews praising it and the influence it has had on people, I thought I was going to read an amazing piece of literature. Knowing it was for a yougner audience, I was prepared for a young narration. I stopped about one third of the way in. It did nothing to hold my attention. Perhaps this is because the lessons it seems to beaiming to teach are lessons I've already learned myself. My compassion is huge, so I felt like someone was just telling me to be...more
I think this is a timeless story of how life was for animals before the Humane society and other animal rights organizations came into being. It is not pretty, but it is an honest account of how animals were viewed as dumb and treated no better than dirt under people's feet or pests. It is,in part, because of this book that the mistreatment of animals were given a spotlight and changes were made. It is sad to note that even in the 21st century there is still far too much animal cruelty going on....more
I first read this at age 8 (seems to be a common age to first encounter this gem) and it has stayed with me ever since. This author was way ahead of her time and this could be the "poster book" for dog rescue agencies today.
i read this because I have always remembered it fondly from my grade school days. It was written 1893 as an entry in a contest by the American Humane Society. It is based on a true story. It had an impact on me as child.
My favorite childhood book. When I was about 9 years old my dad saw me weeping as I was reading Beautiful Joe and threw the book in the waste basket. I retrieved it and read the book a second time.
This was "THE BOOK" that hooked me on reading when I was younger. It is told from the view point of a dog. This dog was abused and terrified. It was about her struggles. Beautifully told.
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Margaret Marshall Saunders CBE was a Canadian author.
Saunders was born in the village of Milton, Queens County, Nova Scotia. She spent most of her childhood in Berwick, Nova Scotia where her father served as Baptist minister. Saunders is most famous for her novel Beautiful Joe. Originally published under the pseudonym Marshall Saunders, it is a story narrated by a dog who has had a difficult puppy...more
More about Margaret Marshall Saunders...
Saunders was born in the village of Milton, Queens County, Nova Scotia. She spent most of her childhood in Berwick, Nova Scotia where her father served as Baptist minister. Saunders is most famous for her novel Beautiful Joe. Originally published under the pseudonym Marshall Saunders, it is a story narrated by a dog who has had a difficult puppy...more
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Jan 03, 2012 07:17am