Litsy

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

so-so

This is one of those weird books that I like less every time I read it. When I first read it ~age 11, I loved it: Black Beauty except a dog! But subsequent rereads as an adult have made me look at this book a little more critically. My main complaint is that there isn't actually a story. In BB, we have a clear linear story, from birth to final home. But Joe is just a collection of random sermonettes against animal cruelty. I think that as a child⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) I had more to learn about the concept of cruelty through carelessness - you don't have to hit your dog with a stick to mistreat him. But as an adult, I found this book much preachier than I remembered, and I definitely wanted more story. The book was choppy and abrupt, with some chapters feeling very unnecessary or shoehorned in just to get another specific lesson checked off the list. I can see why it was popular when it was published, ⬇ 1d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) and Joe is a likable narrator, but as a more critical reader than I was as a child, I find this book to be lacking, well, soul. There just isn't a real connection between the reader and any of the characters, including Joe, who ends up just feeling like a mouthpiece for Saunders's lessons. Despite being a well-loved book when I was growing up, I actually don't see myself rereading this one again. 1d

TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean - a rather late #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead review 😂

#ISpyBingo #BookSpinBingo 1d

See All 9 Comments

TheAromaofBooks PS Beautiful Joe did not specifically address whether forcing your pet to pose with a book is animal cruelty, but I think Waylon may have thoughts 😂 1d

PuddleJumper 🐕🐕 1d

rubyslippersreads I ❤️ everything about this photo. 🐶 24h

TheBookHippie 🤣 24h

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 21h

AnnCrystal 😍💕🐕🐾💝. 19h

62 likes9 comments

IriDas

Madeline's Rescue | Ludwig Bemelmans

Such a fun time at the Summer Reading kick off. For those of you whose kids are grown, they have a program for adults at most libraries.

Are you participating in your library‘s summer reading?

#supportthelobrary
#summerreading

11 likes

BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

What did you enjoy (or not enjoy!) about the book?

If you read this as a child, does it still hold up for you as an adult?

Is there anything else you‘d like to discuss about Beautiful Joe?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Like I said earlier, this definitely worked better for me as a child than it did as an adult, although I still found it to be an interesting read. However, it was a lot sadder than I remember! There were a few times that I was a bit startled by violence stated so casually. Did I just not notice it as such growing up? I definitely focused more on the positive parts of the story, and those were the memories I brought forward. 2w

BarbaraJean The early chapters when Joe is a puppy were SUPER hard to read—I was a little shocked at how violent that part was. The performing animals at the hotel & the “bad“ dog at the farm were a bit of a surprise/shock as well. I wonder how those landed with kids at the time. I definitely had the feeling I'd have enjoyed this more as a kid. I loved animal stories, especially from the animal's perspective. Did you read anything by Dick King-Smith as a kid? 2w

TheAromaofBooks Oh my gosh YES - the first Dick King-Smith book I came across as the library was The Fox Busters, which is honestly kind of a dark book for the children's section, but I am so here for chicken heroes 😂 Later, I found out that he was the author of Babe, also good, but my actual favorites by him are The Queen's Nose and Harry's Mad. He was sooo prolific so some of his stories are definitely weaker than others, but some of them are just delightful. 2w

See All 6 Comments

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Aw, yay!! I don't remember The Fox Busters and now I may have to track it down! I LOVED his books—Babe (which I knew as “The Sheep-Pig“—I have long resented the movie 😂), Harry's Mad, and The Queen's Nose were ones I read over and over. Also Saddlebottom! I remember Saddlebottom and Babe both being from the animals' perspective, which really drew me in. I think Saunders was onto something in using Joe as a first-person narrator. 2w

TheAromaofBooks I don't think I've read Saddlebottom! I'll have to find that one. The Fox Busters is kind of intense (the chickens decide to fight back against marauding foxes), but it was so wildly different from anything else I had ever read when I first found it that I was totally hooked. I also read The Water Horse (which I think may be a movie now also) and had NO idea where it was headed so the twist at the end totally got me. 2w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Ohhh, The Water Horse!! I read that entire book standing in the aisle of an airport bookstore on a long layover 😂 I loved the fact that they called the grandfather “Grump” 😆 It is a movie now (I think the edition I read in that airport was a movie tie-in one), but I haven‘t seen it—the description of the movie sounded WAY different from the book! 2w

18 likes6 comments

BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

Do you think Saunders‘ choice of Joe as a first person narrator is effective? What does this add to (or take away from) the story?

Joe meets several other animal friends during the story: the other pets at the Morris home, the performing animals he sees in Riverdale, and Dandy “the Tramp.” What did you think of these other animals and their stories?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, TheAromaofBooks

JenlovesJT47 I am terribly behind on everything, I‘m so sorry! Going to download this now. 💚💚💚 thank you for all of the hard work you do for this group! 🤗 2w

BarbaraJean @JenlovesJT47 I understand—I have overloaded my reading this summer and there‘s too much to keep up with! Jump in when you can, but no pressure! 2w

TheAromaofBooks I did think using Joe as the narrator made the story more personal, and also worked with Saunders's goal of (to some extent) humanizing animals. Adding in the stories of other animals sometimes felt like a bit much - for instance, the chapter on Mr. Wood's hunting memories seemed kind of pointless. But other times it illustrated a concept otherwise outside of Joe's purview. 2w

See All 7 Comments

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I really liked Joe as the narrator, although it felt contrived/inconsistent at times (sometimes he'd skip over stuff saying he wasn't listening because it wasn't interesting to a dog, and at other times he'd narrate a bunch of stuff that wouldn't have been interesting to a dog 😂). As you said, it humanizes the animal characters--it made the cruelty to animals episodes more difficult to read (and more meaningful/effective). 2w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I liked some of the additional animal stories (like the canaries and Bella the parrot, and the poor performing animals!!), but lots of others felt like padding to make the story longer (like the ENTIRE Band of Mercy meeting). And the lengthy telling of Dandy the Tramp's story just annoyed me 😂 2w

TheAromaofBooks The other thing Joe-as-narrator did was make the animals the main characters instead of the people. If this story had just been about Miss Laura being nice to animals, it would have had a really different flavor than having Joe talk about her. As an adult reader, I wanted more story about Laura and her little romance and whatnot, but as a younger reader, I was definitely more interested in the dogs haha 2w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Hahaha, yeah, I think that would have been my response as a kid, too: more interested in the animals and their stories than Laura's romance 😂 And yes, definitely, having the animals as the main characters/focus rather than Laura really makes the message more impactful, helping kids envision what it's like for the animal to experience neglect and mistreatment vs. kindness and care. 2w

16 likes7 comments

BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

Beautiful Joe is based on a true story & was written for a contest sponsored by the American Humane Education Society (Joe‘s real-life home of Meaford, Ontario was changed to Fairport, Maine). Its goal was to teach children to be kind to animals.

Do you think Beautiful Joe is effective in teaching this message? Why or why not?
What do you think in general about stories whose main goal is to teach a message?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks I enjoyed this more growing up than I did as an adult, but I think part of that is that as a kid, some of the lessons felt fresh. Not that I was ever mean to animals (forever memory is my dad threatening to make me drink gross water from the chicken's waterer that I hadn't washed out properly - “if you don't want to drink it, they shouldn't have to“ - which in retrospect isn't true since they cheerfully drink gross puddle water BUT the lesson ⬇ 2w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) worked 😂) but a lot of the lessons here are just about not being careless, and also about being willing to stand up for those who aren't able to speak for themselves. BUT the story definitely comes across as kind of preachy, more like a collection of little sermonettes on animal welfare. So I do think it works, but perhaps worked better when it was written and the idea of an animal narrator was still rather novel, and when many ⬇ 2w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) animals were still used for work rather than pets. I realize there are still lots of farm animals today - some of which are in bad conditions - but I feel like the majority of us interact with pets, not livestock, which wasn't true when this book was written. 2w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I love that memory of your dad! I mean, you both have a point 😂 For me, the book was too preachy & I think your description is why: it's more a collection of little lessons than a story. I think it was/is probably effective in teaching its message, but I wanted more story/character development. The animal narrator angle wasn't enough to enrapture me as an adult reader in 2025, but then I'm not the target audience! 2w

TheAromaofBooks I think a lot of kids are cruel/neglectful towards animals from a combination of laziness and ignorance. So a book like this really can speak to them and help them recognize not just that animals are living beings who can suffer, but that they are completely dependent on US to take care of them. As an adult reader, I've already learned these lessons so I think a lot of this wasn't as impactful to me. 2w

16 likes5 comments

dabbe

My Dog: The Paradox: A Lovable Discourse about Man's Best Friend | The Oatmeal, Matthew Inman

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs (thanks for the tag; you, too @peaKnit and @Susanita! 😍😍😍)

1. Stay INTERESTED.
2. 📚🤫🤞🏻
3. Reading my weekly dose of THE OATMEAL: https://theoatmeal.com/

All are welcome to share! 😍

Bette Omg! Never saw The Oatmeal before. Thank you! 😊 3w

Eggs Thanks for the link🤗 And thanks for joining in 🥰 3w

37 likes2 comments

oddandbookish

Unnatural Selection | Coco Cooper

pick

What a cute story told from the perspective of a dog! I love dogs so it was no surprise that I loved this book.

The story follows Teddy and his quest to find out what happened to his owner, Maggie. The book is told entirely through Teddy‘s perspective with some emails and texts messages between the humans interspersed throughout.

Full review: https://oddandbookish.wordpress.com/2025/06/01/review-unnatural-selection/

oddandbookish #book #booklover #bookstagram #bookworm #bibliophile #bookobsession #bookish #bookreviewer #booktok #bookspin #bookspinbingo #doublespin #contemporary #dog #dogs #fiction 3w

45 likes2 stack adds1 comment

AmyG

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead @BarbaraJean
I just saw you are reading this. A friend of mine gave this to me…she lived to be 108. When I saw your post I remembered I had this!

BarbaraJean Oh, what a lovely old edition! 💜 3w

MemoirsForMe 😍😍😍 3w

TheBookHippie ♥️♥️♥️♥️ 3w

BooksandCoffee4Me Oh! I remember reading this as a child!!! My book looked something like this — my mom had shared it with me. Beautiful memory. 💛💛💛 3w

AnnCrystal 💝💝💝. 3w

62 likes1 stack add5 comments

BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

Just a little check-in halfway through reading Beautiful Joe!

🐶 How's your reading going?
🐶 What are your thoughts so far?
🐶 What stands out to you from the first half of the book?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean I read an extra chapter this week when I discovered I broke up the reading kind of in the middle of something. 😆 I'm enjoying this, but finding it a leeeetle too preachy. Well, maybe not so much preachy as light on both plot and character development. It feels like little vignettes strung together in order to fill in the gaps between its “don't be cruel to animals“ message. Which is a fine message. I just want more of a story! 3w

TheAromaofBooks I just started this one again today. I had forgotten how sad the first couple of chapters are!! 😭 I believe I read somewhere once that this story was originally written by Saunders as an entry for a competition by the Humane Society or some such organization, so I suppose the preachiness is inevitable 😂 3w

22 likes2 comments

Blueberry

Olive, the Other Reindeer | J.otto Seibold, Vivian Walsh

1. Daisy, sounds happy.
2. Poncho, Crispina, Peaches, Leo
3. Olive (as in the other reindeer)

#WonderousWednesday
@Eggs

Eggs Ah Name Heaven👏🏻👏🏻 4w

37 likes1 comment

Welcome to Litsy!

Trending Hashtags

Trending Books