Saunders' most famous novel Beautiful Joe, tells the true story of dog that has had a difficult puppyhood with many obstacles including a cruel owner. It is told from the dog's point of view. When the book was published, both the book and its subject received worldwide attention. It was the first Canadian book to sell over a million copies, and by the late 1930s had sold over seven million copies worldwide.

(LARGE PRINT EDITION) 1893. Marshall Saunders is the pseudonym for Margaret Marshall Saunders. Beautiful Joe is the real name of a real dog, whose story she became familiar with while visiting her brother and his fiance Louise Moore. The Moores had some years earlier rescued Beautiful Joe from a vicious master who had cruelly beaten him and cut off his ears and tail. So moved was she in the presence of this abused animal, that she wrote a manuscript about his life, from an autobiographical perspective of the dog. It was the first Canadian book to sell more than one million copies. Throughout...