BOOK RECOMMENDATION
The Tuttle Twins and the Free Market –
A Series for Young Readers
YOU CAN BE YOUR CHILDREN’S (OR GRANDCHILDREN’S) FAVORITE TEACHER!
Review by Diane Thunder Schlosser
It’s true. A friend of mine homeschooled her children through grade school then sent them to a public high school. At some point, the students were surveyed on who was their favorite teacher. Many of the high school’s teachers were nominated, but this homeschooled student nominated his own mother for ‘teacher of the year’ and the school district accepted that. So, there she was standing with the other teachers for the official photo. What an honor!
Your children’s and grandchildren’s favorite teacher can be you….but first… Can you readily, simply, and convincingly define Economics? Conservativism? Communism? Socialism? Progressivism? Libertarianism? There are countless resources available for you to informally educate your family and yourself on these critical topics. One fantastic resource is from Connor Boyack of the Libertas Institute. Boyack publishes a series of books including eleven children’s books on economics entitled “The Tuttle Twins” (www.tuttletwins.com). Follow Ethan and Emily as they learn how a simple pencil teaches them about the free market. Based on the 1958 classic essay “I, Pencil” by Leonard Read, the twins – and you and your kids – learn about division of labor, competition, price, trade and entrepreneurship in a way that’s easy to understand and which makes sense! (Something often missing in policies today.)
In “The Law”, the Tuttle Twins discover Frederic Bastiat’s principles of liberty and the proper role of government based on his book of the same name.
Those of you familiar with Ayn Rand’s novel, Atlas Shrugged, will enjoy “The Search for Atlas” when Emily and Ethan find out what happens when hard-working producers of goods decide to quit as they watch socialism and entitlements threaten their company’s prosperity.
For the big-picture understanding of free-market economics, “The Road to Surfdom” explains the unintended consequences of central planning and the destruction it brings to an entire country. This is based on the Nobel prize-winning economist, F.A. Hayek’s famous book The Road to Serfdom.
For more Tuttle Twin adventures, Boyack publishes The Tuttle Times, a monthly magazine for kids 8-12 filled with puzzles, games, and stories. It’s so enlightening, entertaining, and clearly written that kids and adults of all ages will have fun with each issue.
Boyack’s capstone publication “The Tuttle Twins Guide to the World’s Worst Ideas” is a recent addition to his repertoire of free-market literature. Each ‘idea’ describes “what happens when the schemes of politicians, economists, and intellectuals go horribly wrong…” and covers taxes, welfare, central banking, eminent domain, gun control, minimum wage, bureaucracy, Marxism and more. He has a passion and giftedness for taking Big Ideas and whittling them into bite-sized explanations in a way the young and not so young can appreciate. The book is a treasure that every family should own and read this together. It makes a perfect read-aloud book for grandparents and their grandchildren.
Lastly, his astute observation of how our children are being taught Socialism in the public (government) schools is published as an e-book.
Buy it. Read it. Discuss it. And you, too, will be your children’s and grandchildren’s favorite teacher….maybe not right away but eventually! Because, as Connor Boyack attests, “when they discover new ways of thinking and learn to appreciate their [God-given] freedom, they will work to keep it!”
Diane Thunder Schlosser writes from Wisconsin.
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