Litsy

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. 6d

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? 5d

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. 5d

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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. 4d

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. 4d

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! 4d

17 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! 🤗 7d

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! 7d

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. 6d

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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). 5d

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 😂 5d

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 5d

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. 4d

15 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 ⬇ 6d

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 ⬇ 6d

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. 6d

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! 5d

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. 5d

15 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

The Library at Night | Alberto Manguel

🤖 Finished System Collapse yesterday, completing my Murderbot re-read
⚔️ Started Guards! Guards! for #OokBOokClub
🐶 Beautiful Joe is ongoing for #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent
📚 I‘ve been parceling out an essay per day of The Library at Night, which is my May #BookSpin and also a pick for my #50x50 challenge

rachelsbrittain

rachelsbrittain Love Murderbot! 2w

29 likes1 comment

BarbaraJean

Rilla of Ingleside: A Virago Modern Classic | L. M. Montgomery

I have this blog where I don't post as often as I'd like. But here are some reflections on a scene from Rilla of Ingleside, with a little Pollyanna thrown in. #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead-ers may be interested. Also: it‘s Christian-y. 🙂

https://commonplacehope.wordpress.com/2025/05/30/burning-coals/

#LMMReread #LMMAdjacent

31 likes

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! 2w

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 😂 2w

22 likes2 comments

BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

Today starts our #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead of Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders. This is one of our #LMMAdjacent books—Saunders was a contemporary of LMM, and another author who published with the nefarious L.C. Page Co. I‘ll post a check-in on 5/31 and we‘ll have our discussion on June 7. All are welcome—please comment if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be!

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Looking forward to this reread - it's very Black Beauty ish 3w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I‘m looking forward to reading it for the first time! (I haven‘t read Black Beauty either 🤦🏻‍♀️ or at least I don‘t remember reading it as a kid! Another gap to fill in my reading of classic children‘s literature!) 3w

TheAromaofBooks Oh dear! You really should read Black Beauty; it's genuinely a classic haha But, like Beautiful Joe, it's also a book written with a message/purpose in mind. To me, neither book is so polemic that it detracts from the story, but you also never quite forget that the author is trying to make a point about the way animals are treated. 3w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I've been expecting that “moral of the story“ with Beautiful Joe, but I didn't realize Black Beauty was that way as well! I feel like so many classic children's books have a “message,“ but when they're done well I don't mind it. Like Pollyanna! 3w

TheAromaofBooks Exactly!! As long as there is still an engaging story and characters I care about, I don't mind getting a little moralizing as we go 😂 3w

34 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

Pollyanna | Eleanor H Porter

pick

I loved this delightful children‘s classic and found it hard to put down! Initially I was worried it would be too sweet or too cloying—and there were moments that could have veered into toxic positivity—but I feel like Porter balances those moments with others that acknowledge the reality of grief and hurt and disappointment. Pollyanna‘s determination to look for—and be glad in—the good in every situation doesn‘t dismiss the reality of hardship ⤵️

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …and pain, rather it gives her the determination to work for change where she can, and her childlike trust in others in turn calls out the best in them. This sweet book was a reminder to me to look for the good and to call out the good in others, as well. I‘m so glad I read this, and now I need to track down the various film adaptations! #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent 3w

TheLudicReader I loved this movie with Haley Mills when I was a kid. 3w

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BarbaraJean

Pollyanna | Eleanor H Porter

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent—Pollyanna discussion—4 of 4

👒 Did you see any similarities here to L.M. Montgomery‘s books?
👒 Is there anything else from Pollyanna that you‘d like to discuss?
👒 Any favorite scenes or quotes?

rubyslippersreads, CogsOfEncouragement, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks, julieclair

BarbaraJean I see a lot of similarities with AoGG—the orphan taken in by a grouchy guardian who didn‘t expect her and doesn‘t want her. Like Anne, Pollyanna loves to talk—she chatters away the whole ride back from the train station—and she‘s expecting a very different welcome than she receives. Pollyanna also fits right in with Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. All three books are stories of endearing, cheerful young orphans taken in by strict guardians ⬇ 3w

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …who subsequently soften and open up due to the bright and cheerful child in their life. And yet, unlike RoSF, Pollyanna didn‘t feel derivative. (I realize RoSF was published first, then Anne, then Pollyanna—but reading RoSF, I felt like LMM read it, said “I can do this better,” and wrote Anne. 😂) Pollyanna has LOTS of similarities to Anne, but she‘s her own unique person with her own unique influence on the people in her life. 3w

BarbaraJean One of the things I struggled with throughout the book was the way it seemed to often base gladness on comparison. With the initial story of the game, the gladness comes from not needing the crutches. An attitude of “I'm glad I'm not like that person over there who needs crutches“ just didn't land well with me. The way the story plays out is more complex and nuanced than that, but there's still something there that bothers me! 3w

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CogsOfEncouragement I see the similarity that lessons are being taught. It is the same with Little Women and probably countless other books. The authors are holding us all to a higher standard of being other-centered.

3w

TheAromaofBooks One random thing that always bothered me about the movie vs the book was how in the movie they have Pollyanna sneaking out and disobeying her aunt and that's how she gets hurt. I think Porter went out of her way to create a character who enjoyed trying to please Aunt Polly and would have been horrified by that change in her story!! 3w

TheAromaofBooks I do think there are some similarities between Pollyanna and Anne, but I also think Pollyanna is really her own character. Her past and present are really quite different from Anne's. I don't think Pollyanna has the same depth and character development LMM gives us with Anne - this definitely feels like more of a children's book. 3w

TheAromaofBooks I'm probably going to reread Pollyanna Grows Up and Pollyanna of the Orange Blossoms. Porter wrote the former but not the latter - and after reading all about what a scoundrel Page was, I wonder whether he basically stole Pollyanna's character from Porter?? The “Glad Books“ go on for quite a while, penned by several different authors. A few years ago I read 7 of them - there were more, but Pollyanna in Hollywood was soooo terrible that I didn't ⬇ 3w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) want to read any more books by Elizabeth Borton 😂 I had very mixed feelings about Pollyanna Grows Up, but kind of loved Pollyanna of the Orange Blossoms, which is about her marriage and first year or two of marriage and SO adorable. 3w

lauraisntwilder The stories have some similarities, but Anne, as @TheAromaofBooks said, is more fully developed. I need to rewatch the movie, but I was surprised the minister is actually not in the book very much. There's a PBS adaptation that I haven't seen, but I'm going to search it out and see what the differences are with that one. 3w

BarbaraJean @CogsofEncouragement Yes, there‘s definitely a lesson being taught here, and it‘s not subtle! And I think that fits right in with other children‘s literature of the time. But I loved the characters and it‘s such a sweet story that I don‘t really mind. @TheAromaofBooks @lauraisntwilder I agree—Pollyanna isn‘t developed as deeply as Anne, and Aunt Polly certainly isn‘t developed nearly as much as Marilla is in AoGG! 2w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I didn‘t realize there was a whole SERIES beyond the sequel! (I just can‘t with the idea of “Pollyanna in Hollywood” 😩) I‘m conflicted about reading on—I was worried about an age-inappropriate relationship developing at the end of this one, and wondered if that‘s where the sequel might go. I have a feeling you‘re right with your speculation about Page stealing the character. Or he got Porter to sell him the rights for a pittance. 2w

TheAromaofBooks On all the other books “Pollyanna“ in the title is marked “Trademarked“ as are “The Glad Books.“ Harriet Lummis Smith write four books, and they were all pretty adorable. But when Elizabeth Borton took up the baton they went off a cliff immediately. Pollyanna Grows Up is kind of a split book, with the first half taking place about a year after Pollyanna ends, and the second half picking up 7 or 8 years later. As I was typing this, I was suddenly⬇ 2w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) struck by a thought and I looked it up and it's true - Pollyanna was published 1913, the sequel in 1915, and then Porter actually died in 1920 - and the third Pollyanna book was published in 1924. So somehow Page ended up with the rights to Pollyanna after Porter's death, which frankly feels shady. I kind of need a tell-all biography of Page 😂 2w

TheAromaofBooks Also, when looking this up, I found this quote from an interview where Porter is talking about Pollyanna and how people picked on her for making her heroine “too happy“ - “You know I have been made to suffer from the Pollyanna books. I have been placed often in a false light. People have thought that Pollyanna chirped that she was ‘glad‘ at everything. I have never believed that we ought to deny discomfort and pain and evil; I have merely thought⬇ 2w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) that it is far better to ‘greet the unknown with a cheer.' “ I love that! 2w

BarbaraJean SO INTERESTING about when Porter died. And Page wanted to continue cashing in, so he enlisted (read: exploited) other authors to capitalize on the character. I would LOVE a tell-all bio of Page, but there doesn't seem to be one out there!

I love that quote from Porter. Greeting the unknown with a cheer is challenging!! This year, I've been trying to greet the unknown with curiosity, which I guess is a first step? 😆 2w

19 likes16 comments

BarbaraJean

Pollyanna | Eleanor H Porter

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent—Pollyanna discussion—3 of 4

👒 Pollyanna comes to have such a strong influence on so many people in her town—which of these did you find most meaningful?
👒 Were there any that felt unrealistic?

rubyslippersreads, CogsOfEncouragement, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks, julieclair

CogsOfEncouragement No, I actually thought that because of her age, and having not a bit of guile in her, people would allow her to influence them. Especially when she made good assumptions about what people were doing with their time and money. That of course they were generous, other-centered people. Her comments helped them see that it wouldn't be that hard to actually be the way Pollyanna assumed they were. 3w

TheAromaofBooks @CogsOfEncouragement - I totally agree!! I think if she had been older, it would have been harder to believe. But her innocence and confidence in the inherent goodness of the adults around her I think inspired those people to try to be that better self that she perceived. 3w

lauraisntwilder I think the only far-fetched part is that one kid would have managed to talk to that many people at all. But the story works, so I don't care. 😂 3w

BarbaraJean @CogsOfEncouragement @TheAromaofBooks Yes, I love that insight about Pollyanna's assumptions. Because she believes the best about others, she inspires them to live up to who she thinks they are! And it's believable because of her childlike innocence. @lauraisntwilder 😂 😂 I hadn't thought about that, but yes: the sheer number of people who descend upon Aunt Polly with their stories of how Pollyanna influenced them does strain realism a tad!! 2w

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