Beautiful Joe - Saunders, Marshall

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Résumé :
Beautiful Joe tells the true story of a dog from Meaford, Ontario that had his ears and tail chopped off by an abusive owner as a puppy, but is rescued by a Meaford family whose lives he later saves. The story is written from the dog's point of view, and is often compared to Black Beauty which was released a few years earlier. When the book was published, it received worldwide attention. It was the first Canadian book to sell over a million copies, and by the end of the 1930s over seven million copies were sold worldwide. About Beautiful Joe, Marshall Saunders commented, I have had the honour of leading the old Ontario dog around the world on a chain of translations and rejoice in the report that he has become quite a propagandist for humanitarianism....

Biographie:
Margaret Marshall Saunders CBE was a prolific Canadian writer of children's stories and romantic novels, a lecturer, and an animal rights champion. She was an active member of Halifax's Local Council of Women. Saunders was born on April 13, 1861, in Milton, Nova Scotia, the fourth child of Reverend Edmund M. and Maria (n?e Freeman) Saunders. She spent the majority of her upbringing in Berwick, Nova Scotia, where her father was a Baptist minister. She studied in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Orleans, France at the age of 15, before returning to Halifax and taking classes at Dalhousie for a year before starting her freelance writing career. In response to the male-dominated environment of the publishing industry, she changed her name to Marshall Saunders. Saunders is best known for her novel Beautiful Joe. It relates the true story of a dog from Meaford, Ontario, who as a puppy had his ears and tail cut off by an abusive owner before being saved by a Meaford family whose lives he eventually saves.

Sommaire:
Marshall Saunders was the pen name of Margaret Marshall Saunders, a Canadian author and animal-welfare advocate best remembered for Beautiful Joe. Born in Nova Scotia in 1861, Saunders became one of Canada's most widely read writers of her era. Her fiction often combined storytelling with moral and social concerns, especially the humane treatment of animals and the formation of sympathy in young readers.Beautiful Joe made Saunders internationally known. Inspired by the true story of an abused dog rescued in Meaford, Ontario, the novel was written as a fictionalized autobiography from the dog's point of view and helped bring attention to animal cruelty and humane education. The book became Canada's first million-selling novel and remained a popular children's classic for decades. Saunders's work continues to matter to readers interested in classic animal stories, Canadian children's literature, humane reform, and the history of books that used fiction to change how readers thought about animals....