William H. Armstrong

William H. Armstrong
Born	September 14, 1911 Lexington, Virginia, US
Died	April 11, 1999 Kent, Connecticut, US
Occupation	Writer, educator, history teacher
Language	English
Alma mater	Hampden-Sydney College
Genre	Children's historical novels, study guides
Notable works	Sounder
Notable awards	Newbery Medal 1970

William H. Armstrong (September 14, 1911 – April 11, 1999) was an American children's author and educator, best known for his 1969 novel Sounder, which won the Newbery Medal.

William Howard Armstrong was born in Lexington, Virginia in 1911 during the worst hailstorm and tornado in the memory of his neighbors. He was the third child born to Howard Gratton Armstrong, a farmer, and his wife, Ida Morris Armstrong. He had a difficult time in school, being a small child with asthma and glasses.

While his father taught him to work hard, his mother taught Armstrong to love stories. “No one told me the Bible was not for young readers, so I found some exciting stories in it,” Armstrong said. "Not until years later did I understand why I liked the Bible stories so much. It was because everything that could possibly be omitted [left out] was omitted. There was no description of David so I could be like David... ." Armstrong later used the art of omission in his own writing of Sounder which he wrote based on an account told around his family's kitchen table in Virginia. One story in particular, told by an elderly black man about Argus, the faithful dog of Odysseus, fascinated him; the dog recognized his master when he returned home after being away for twenty long years. This story stayed with him throughout his life and ultimately was the inspiration for his award winning children's book, Sounder.

After growing up on a farm near Lexington, Armstrong graduated from the Augusta Military Academy. He attended Hampden-Sydney College, where he wrote for the college newspaper and edited its literary magazine. Armstrong graduated cum laude in 1936, then continued his higher education with graduate work at the University of Virginia. He farmed in Connecticut near the Housatonic River, also learning to be a carpenter and a stonemason. In 1945, he became a history master at Kent School in Kent, Connecticut, where he remained for fifty-two years, teaching general studies and ancient history to generations of ninth grade students.

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