He attended Hampden-Sydney College, where he wrote for the college newspaperĪnd edited its literary magazine. Īfter growing up on a farm near Lexington, Armstrong graduated from the Augusta Military Academy. This story stayed with him throughout his life and ultimately was the inspiration for his award-winning children's book, Sounder. 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. 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. It was because everything that could possibly be 'Not until years later did I understand why I liked the Bible stories so much. 'No one told me the Bible was not for young readers, so I found some exciting stories in it,' Armstrong said. While his father taught him to work hard, his mother taught Armstrong to love stories. He had a difficult time in school, being a small child with asthma and glasses. He was the third child born to Howard Gratton Armstrong, a farmer, and his wife, Ida Morris Armstrong. William Howard Armstrong was born in Lexington, Virginia in 1911.

William Howard Armstrong (September 14, 1911 – April 11, 1999) was an American writer of children's literature and educator, best known for his 1969 novel Sounder, which won the Newbery Medal. Children's historical novels, study guides

Sounder armstrong