Roy Judson Snell (November 20, 1878 – September 21, 1959) was an American writer of fiction mainly for young readers.

Biography

Snell was born in Laddonia, Missouri on November 12, 1878 to James and Sarah Knight-Snell. Snell wrote several juvenile fiction books. While he mostly concentrated on stories for boys there was at least one series of mysteries for girls. He also wrote under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

s of David O'Hara, James Craig and Joseph Marino. Snell and his wife Lucile had three sons, Jud, John, and James. The latter,

J. Laurie Snell James Laurie Snell, often cited as J. Laurie Snell, (January 15, 1925 in Wheaton, Illinois – March 19, 2011 in Hanover, New Hampshire) was an American mathematician. Biography J. Laurie Snell was the son of Roy J. Snell, Roy Snell, an adventure ...

, became a professor of

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

at Dartmouth College. Jud and John found careers as a businessman and a United States Navy pilot respectively. In 1938, Snell appeared on Edgar Guest's radio show "It Can Be Done". In 1941 he wrote a series of war stories for boys at the request of his publisher. He retired from writing soon after the end of the World War II. He spent much of his retirement at a summer cottage on

Isle Royale, Michigan Isle Royale National Park is an American national park consisting of Isle Royale – known as Minong to the native Ojibwe – along with more than 400 small adjacent islands and the surrounding waters of Lake Superior, in the state of Michigan. ...

. Lucille, a concert pianist who had attended the New England Conservatory of Music, suffered from asthma, so the family vacationed in the north, at Hessel, Michigan, and then at Isle Royale. Here the family acquired a life-lease on a property at Tobin Harbor in

Isle Royale National Park Isle Royale National Park is an American national park consisting of Isle Royale – known as Minong to the native Ojibwe – along with more than 400 small adjacent islands and the surrounding waters of Lake Superior, in the state of Michigan. ...

. Snell would visit schools in Detroit and Des Moines, lecturing with colored slides showing life on Isle Royale. Snell died in 1959 at the age of 80. He is buried in Wheaton Cemetery in Wheaton, Illinois.

Works

* ''Little White Fox And His Arctic Friends'' (1916) * ''An Eskimo Robinson Crusoe'' (1917) * ''Captain Kituk'' (1918) * ''Skimmer And His Thrilling Adventures'' (1919) * ''Skimmer, The Daring, In The Far North'' (1919) * ''Soolook, Wild Boy'' (c. 1920) * ''Triple Spies'' (1920) * ''Lost In The Air'' (1920) * ''Panther Eye'' (1921) * ''The Crimson Flash'' (1922) * ''White Fire'' (1922) * ''The Blue Envelope'' (1922) * ''Curlie Carson Listens In lso written as: James Craig' (1922) * ''On The Yukon Trail ritten as: James Craig' (1922) * ''The Black Schooner'' (1923) * ''The Desert Patrol ritten as: James Craig' (1923) * ''The Secret Mark'' (1923) * ''The Seagoing Tank'' (1924) * ''The Hidden Trail'' (1924) * ''The Firebug'' (1925) * ''The Flying Sub'' (1925) * ''The Red Lure'' (1926) * ''Dark Treasure'' (1926) * ''Forbidden Cargoes'' (1927) * ''Whispering Isles'' (1927) * ''The Thirteenth Ring'' (1927) * ''Johnny Longbow'' (1928) * ''The Invisible Wall'' (1928) * ''The Rope Of Gold'' (1929) * ''The Gypsy Shawl'' (1929) * ''The Arrow Of Fire'' (1930) * ''The Gray Shadow'' (1931) * ''The Riddle Of The Storm'' (1932) * ''The Galloping Ghost'' (1933) * ''The Phantom Violin'' (1934) * ''Whispers At Dawn'' (1934) * ''Mystery Wings'' (1935) * ''Red Dynamite'' (1936) * ''Seal Of Secrecy'' (1937) * ''The Shadow Passes'' (1938) * ''The Sign Of The Green Arrow'' (1939) * ''Jane Withers And The Phantom Violin'' (1943) * ''Jet Plane Mystery'' (1944) Sources:

References

External links

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Obituary for Roy J. Snell
from ''The Detroit News'' October 6, 1959, via Chance News {{DEFAULTSORT:Snell, Roy J. 1878 births 1959 deaths People from Audrain County, Missouri Writers from Wheaton, Illinois 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American young adult novelists Novelists from Missouri 20th-century American male writers