Tod Comes Home

tod-comes-homeOn a day that was meant to be filled with celebration and fanfare at the return of Captain Tod Carter, his family and sweetheart Sarah Beth feel a heavy anxiousness grow as the Federals set up camp in the front yard of the Carter House.

“Our plan isn’t to attack here in Franklin,” a Union general assures Tod’s father Fount Carter. “We plan to move our men out as soon as possible to join forces with General Thomas in Nashville.”

But events change quickly. The war that once seemed a distant tragedy is now at the Carters’ doorstep. Fate has dealt Fount Carter a hand of unexpected dilemmas. Should he move his family to a safer place or stay and wait for his son’s return?

Based on the true story of Tod Carter, the Carter family, and the Battle of Franklin, life once again is more unbelievable than fiction. Tod’s journey is filled with hardship, struggle, and hope. The family and sweetheart who wait for him can only have faith and pray that Tod Comes Home.
Teacher’s Resources are listed below


Using good questioning techniques before studying a subject or reading a book is a good way to generate interest. One good questioning routine (Harvard Project Zero) is to let students write on post-it notes what they think they know about the subject. The post-it notes can be put on a poster to refer to later after reading /studying has been done.

Then students can be asked what they would like to know about the subject. These questions are also written on post-it notes and put on a poster to guide the learning.

After reading or studying, it’s interesting to see how students change from what they first thought about the subject as compared to what they now know. Many times the ‘what I would like to know’ questions lead to enhanced interest and further research.


Check the words you are sure you can read and define:


Fill in the blanks with the best word from the list.

1. To buy a new car or repair the old one was a ________ Dad could not resolve easily.
2. When the football team won the championship, the excited crowd ran on the field creating _________ and confusion.
3. The officer in charge of ____________ was ordered to line the cannons on the hill.
4. Her voice was so soft that her speech was not __________ to the audience.
5. It was a _________________ race for the runners due to the heat and the steep hills.
6. A rock slide made the mountain road _________________.
7. Many soldiers moved to the left __________________ of the army to prepare for an attack from the west.
8. The general made plans to _________________ the walls of the fort with heavy cannon fire.
9. The coach will _________________ his players along the ten-yard line to make the touchdown.
10. The hostess of the party was ______________________ to her guests as she greeted them with a smile.


Understanding the story, this is just a sampling of questions.

Circle the best answer:
1. The Army of Tennessee was marching into Tennessee because:
a. The war was over
b. General Hood wanted to raid the farms for supplies
c. The army was headed to Nashville
d. The Tennessee soldiers wanted to go home

2. Who is Lena Carter?
a. She is Fount Carter’s favorite granddaughter
b. She is Moscow Carter’s wife
c. She is one of the Carter sisters.
d. She is a widowed sister-in-law

3. Why did Tod and James Cooper leave the army?

a. They were assigned to spy on the enemy
b. They both had passes to go home
c. They decided to sneak off and go home
d. They were ordered to lead the way to Franklin

4. Why did Tod and James split up at Mr. Neely’s house?
a. The chances of being caught would be lessened
b. James was tired of riding and wanted to walk
c. Rosencrantz could go no farther with two riders
d. James went home, but Tod went back to the army

5. Sarah Beth went to visit the Carters because:
a. she had prepared food for the party
b. she had not heard from them all day
c. the family sent for her
d. she had a message from Tod


Choose one of the characters for Character Analysis:
1. List 5 adjectives that best describe the character.
2. In what ways did this character change from the beginning of the story to the end?
3. List 3 qualities that make this character a good friend (or not a good friend).
4. This character is running for president. Write a campaign slogan for him / her.
5. What animal might symbolize this character? Why?

Who Said That?
In this game students draw a card with a quote on it and then match the quote with the speaker. Characters from Tod Comes Home are posted where students can see the list. A character can say more than one quote. Students should be allowed to refer to the book if they have difficulty remembering the specific quote.

Creative Thinking:PDF

S-T-R-E-T-C-H Your Thinking
Complete the analogies:
1. fight is to skirmish as omen is to _____________________.
2. foot is to body as basement is to ______________________.
3. forward is to backward as attack is to ______________________.
4. Fount Carter is to Moscow Carter as James Cooper is to ____________________________.
5. Union commanding general is to John Schofield as Confederate commanding general is to ____________________________.
6. The Battle of Gettysburg is to Pennsylvania as The Battle of Franklin is to ___________________________________.
7. river is to boat as pike is to ________________________.


The Carter Family Coat of Arms

Choose a character from Tod Comes Home and create a shield for that character. First, choose a color that best represents the character. Next choose a symbol that best represnets the character. This symbol can be an object, an animal, a natural occurrence, etc. Put the symbol in the upper right section of the shield. In the bottom section of the shield, draw an image of the character. This can be a picture of the character doing something from the story that shows the reason for choosing the color and the symbol.

Book Report:PDF

Help students organize their ideas for writing a book report. Complete sentences are not required on the guide. Here are some suggested ways to organize the report.
Paragraph 1:
The book’s title is________________________ and is written by_________________________. The main characters are_____________________________________________. The setting takes place in __________________________________________
_______________. The genre (type of story) is __________________________________________.
Paragraph 2: Write a summary of what happened in the first part of the story.
Paragraph 3: Write a summary of what happened in the middle part of the story.
Paragraph 4: Write a summary of what happened in the last part of the story. Be careful not to give away the ending.
Paragraph 5: My favorite character was ________________________ because ______________________________________.
My favorite part of the book was _____________________________________________________________________________.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes ____________________________________________________________________.

Teacher’s Key:PDF

Download the PDF containing the key to all the questions.
Included are the answers for all the questions.

Further Research

Battle of Franklin: