Scott Corbett

Who was Scott Corbett?

W. Scott Corbett was an American novelist and educator. Beginning 1950 he wrote five adult novels, then began writing books for children. He retired from teaching in 1965 to write full time. His best known book is The Lemonade Trick, a novel for children. One of his books, entitled The Reluctant Landlord, was made into the 1951 film Love Nest. He wrote his first children's book, Susie Sneakers, in 1956. According to a Providence Journal obituary, he wrote 81 books "including 34 that he aimed at children". According to the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection that holds his papers, he wrote "at least sixty-seven fiction and non-fiction books for children".

Corbett received a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri in 1934. During World War II he was a member of the 42nd Infantry Division of the United States Army. In this position, he also served as a correspondent for Stars and Stripes, the United States's military newspaper in Europe, and also served as the last editor of Yank, the Army Weekly, an Army magazine based in Paris. He was one of the first correspondents to enter the Dachau concentration camp in Germany just before the end of the war.