William H. Armstrong (author) facts for kids

William Howard Armstrong (born September 14, 1911 – died April 11, 1999) was an American author and teacher. He is best known for his 1969 novel Sounder. This book won the famous Newbery Medal.

William Armstrong's Early Life

William Howard Armstrong was born in Lexington, Virginia, in 1911. He was the third child of Howard and Ida Armstrong. Growing up, he faced challenges in school. He was a small child and had asthma and glasses.

His father taught him the value of hard work. But it was his mother who taught him to love stories. Armstrong once said he found exciting stories in the Bible. He later realized he liked them because they left out many details. This allowed him to imagine himself as the characters.

One story that deeply fascinated him was about Argus. Argus was the loyal dog of Odysseus. This dog recognized his master after 20 long years away. This idea of a faithful dog stayed with Armstrong. It later inspired his award-winning book, Sounder.

Education and Teaching Career

After growing up on a farm, Armstrong went to the Augusta Military Academy. He then attended Hampden-Sydney College. There, he wrote for the college newspaper and edited its literary magazine. He graduated with honors in 1936. He continued his studies at the University of Virginia.

Armstrong also worked as a farmer in Connecticut. He learned to be a carpenter and a stonemason. In 1945, he started teaching history at Kent School in Kent, Connecticut. He taught there for 52 years. He taught general studies, classics, and ancient history to many students.

Students respected Armstrong greatly. He was known for being a strong and serious teacher. He did not tolerate students who were not paying attention. Sometimes, he would even toss a textbook to wake up a sleepy student!

Writing Books and Awards

In 1956, Armstrong published his first book. It was a study guide called Study Is Hard Work. He wrote many other self-help books after that. In 1963, he received the National School Bell Award. This award recognized his important work in education.

In 1969, Armstrong published his most famous book, Sounder. It is a novel with eight chapters. The story is about an African-American sharecropping family. Critics praised Sounder highly. It won the Newbery Medal and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1970. The book was also made into a movie in 1972. It starred Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson.

Even with its success, some people criticized Sounder. They felt that a white writer might not fully understand the experiences of African-American families. They also thought the book suggested that hard work alone could solve big problems faced by families in the American South.

Armstrong wrote other novels too. The Sour Land is a follow-up to Sounder. He also wrote The Mills of God and The MacLeod Place. The MacLeod Place tells the story of a family farm that had to move for the building of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

He continued writing many books. Many of his later books featured historical or biblical characters. Examples include Hadassah: Esther the Orphan Queen (1972) and The Education of Abraham Lincoln (1974).

In 1986, Hampden-Sydney College gave Armstrong an honorary Doctor of Letters degree. He passed away in 1999 at his home in Kent, Connecticut, at the age of 87. His Newbery Medal is now kept at Bortz Library at his old college, Hampden-Sydney College.

William Armstrong's Published Works

• Study Is Hard Work (1956)
• Through Troubled Waters (1957)
• 87 ways to Help Your Child in School (1961)
• Tools of Thinking (1968)
• Word Power in 5 Easy Lessons (1969)
• Peoples of the Ancient World (1969)
• Sounder (1969)
• Barefoot in the Grass (1970)
• Sour Land (1971)
• The MacLeod Place (1972)
• Hadassah: Esther the Orphan Queen (1972)
• My Animals (1973)
• The Mills of God (1973)
• The Education of Abraham Lincoln (1974)
• JoAnna's Miracle (1978)
• Tawny and Dingo (1978)
• Warrior in Two Camps (1978)
• Study Tactics (1983)
• Trueno (1996)