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Tuttle Twins #4
The Tuttle Twins and the Food Truck Fiasco
The oldest economic battle is repeating itself. Disruptive businesses must fight against their crony competitors--the ones with friends in government who try and protect them from innovative upstarts. Ethan and Emily Tuttle witness this battle firsthand with their food truck friends as they embark on a campaign to win public support and overturn the laws that shut them down.
Incorporating key concepts from the classic Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt, this book helps young readers learn about business, regulations, economics, protectionism, competition, and other basic market principles. Learn alongside the Tuttle Twins how government harms the economy, and what one person--or two!--can do about it.
Incorporating key concepts from the classic Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt, this book helps young readers learn about business, regulations, economics, protectionism, competition, and other basic market principles. Learn alongside the Tuttle Twins how government harms the economy, and what one person--or two!--can do about it.
54 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2016
About the author
Connor Boyack
95 books267 followersConnor Boyack is founder and president of Libertas Institute, a libertarian think tank in Utah. In that capacity, he has spearheaded important policy reforms dealing with property rights, civil liberties, transparency, surveillance, and education freedom.
Connor is the author of several books, including the new Tuttle Twins series that teaches the principles of liberty to young children. Other books include Latter-day Liberty: A Gospel Approach to Government and Politics and its companion, Latter-day Responsibility: Choosing Liberty through Personal Accountability.
Connor's work has been publicly praised by former Representative Ron Paul, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Tom Woods, and other nationally recognized figures. He is a frequent commentator on current events and has appeared in local, national, and international interviews to publicize and comment on his work.
Connor is the author of several books, including the new Tuttle Twins series that teaches the principles of liberty to young children. Other books include Latter-day Liberty: A Gospel Approach to Government and Politics and its companion, Latter-day Responsibility: Choosing Liberty through Personal Accountability.
Connor's work has been publicly praised by former Representative Ron Paul, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Tom Woods, and other nationally recognized figures. He is a frequent commentator on current events and has appeared in local, national, and international interviews to publicize and comment on his work.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
May 31, 2024
2021-07-29 I listened to the audio version of the book, and did not read it. Another excellent story in the Tuttle Twins series. Highly recommended. Very positive story of kids and adults learning about a real issue in life in America (business using government force to hamper competition) and doing something about it to make life better for all (except maybe short-term for the original business - but making him/her work harder/smarter to gain customers).
Injustice and laws that make us poorer are exposed and corrected.
So many people can learn important truths and gain appropriate methods and inspiration from this book.
HIGHLY recommended.
See my other Tuttle Twins book series for my other reviews if intrigued.
Injustice and laws that make us poorer are exposed and corrected.
So many people can learn important truths and gain appropriate methods and inspiration from this book.
HIGHLY recommended.
See my other Tuttle Twins book series for my other reviews if intrigued.
June 18, 2020
So it used to be that a Barenaked Ladies concert was the whitest thing out there... then these monstrosities came out.... Made by an author who clearly didn't even read Smith, or Jefferson, or any of their apparent influences... it's social studies for wealthy white kids to help make a new generation of tax evaders... delightful...
Not to mention that their facebook page shares shit from Jordan Peterson, yep that piece of shit bigot. These books should not be read by anyone, let alone children. If you want your kid to turn into a libertarian proud boy, then I guess this fits, but if you want your kids to understand actual complex problems, read elsewhere.
Not to mention that their facebook page shares shit from Jordan Peterson, yep that piece of shit bigot. These books should not be read by anyone, let alone children. If you want your kid to turn into a libertarian proud boy, then I guess this fits, but if you want your kids to understand actual complex problems, read elsewhere.
May 5, 2021
An excellent example of what happens when local government tries to create laws that benefit and protect their friends’ businesses. I like that this book not only explains what protectionism is, but offers a solution on fixing the problem.
Recommended for all ages.
Recommended for all ages.
September 25, 2021
This fun little book educates children on the dangers of corruption between government and big business, specifically protectionism.
It's sad to see that this very thing is playing out before our very eyes. Big business, specifically the tech industry such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and Apple, all have a stranglehold on online social media and the flow of information. They play right into the pocketbooks of both Democrat and Republican politicians through contributions and thereby, are able to avoid meaningful checks on the power and influence.
It's sad to see that this very thing is playing out before our very eyes. Big business, specifically the tech industry such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and Apple, all have a stranglehold on online social media and the flow of information. They play right into the pocketbooks of both Democrat and Republican politicians through contributions and thereby, are able to avoid meaningful checks on the power and influence.
May 12, 2021
Read this one during morning time and had good discussion on how to be civically involved and when to disobey laws.
March 22, 2024
Book 4 in a series aimed to teach children about fiscal responsibilities and realities. This one touches on protectionism.
February 21, 2021
Man, if only it were that easy to get our oppressive government to back down...
July 20, 2021
This was probably the best one in the series yet.
Food trucks are a huge talking point and a great example of government overstepping their bounds. This was a great introduction to discussing changing unfair laws, and why we need to overturn these laws.
Food trucks are a huge talking point and a great example of government overstepping their bounds. This was a great introduction to discussing changing unfair laws, and why we need to overturn these laws.
August 13, 2020
An accurate look (food trucks in particular face this frequently) at the dangers of protectionism and how it hurts all participants in the economy.
November 4, 2020
These books are fantastic! They teach essential principles that both kids and adults need to understand if we want to keep our freedom.
February 18, 2021
Should be required reading for elementary through adults.
August 5, 2021
Good lessons about how government can harm the people through protectionism. Good read with my kids.
January 14, 2022
Wow, Connor Boyack, you sure know how to take tough concepts and make them super clear. Thanks for teaching us about the unfairness of protectionism in this book!
February 25, 2022
I love the Tuttle twins series. You should read it.
March 31, 2021
A parent's review: Highly recommended
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2020
This is a children's version of the book "Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt. (This book continues on with the series of children's versions of books that have been read by libertarians. I think I have read the adult version of every single book in this series.)
This is a simple little read, it occurs to me to ask: Why didn't somebody think of this before?
A lot of times when people want to inculcate someone with a political agenda, the first place that they go is to schools so that they can catch children when they are young.
Why can't sauce for the goose be sauce for the gander?
The environmentalists have been doing this for a long time. (Think of how often you watch a cartoon where bad people are shown to be polluters, who are not polluting as a side effect of some productive economic activity. But, just doing it because they are "bad.")
And don't even get me started on the Gender Identity Disorder Self-Diagnosis Movement. (Drag queen story hours all over the place. And I remember WAY fewer people with Gender Identity Disorder than when I was in Middle School and high school.)
If you have a worldview that you would like to impart to your kids, better that you catch them young and take the responsibility for their education.
The Libertarian world view has some number of parts, and this is a substantial one. (Rent seeking and corrupt government regulators.)
The illustrations are great, and my sons liked them a lot.
Verdict: Strongly recommended
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2020
This is a children's version of the book "Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt. (This book continues on with the series of children's versions of books that have been read by libertarians. I think I have read the adult version of every single book in this series.)
This is a simple little read, it occurs to me to ask: Why didn't somebody think of this before?
A lot of times when people want to inculcate someone with a political agenda, the first place that they go is to schools so that they can catch children when they are young.
Why can't sauce for the goose be sauce for the gander?
The environmentalists have been doing this for a long time. (Think of how often you watch a cartoon where bad people are shown to be polluters, who are not polluting as a side effect of some productive economic activity. But, just doing it because they are "bad.")
And don't even get me started on the Gender Identity Disorder Self-Diagnosis Movement. (Drag queen story hours all over the place. And I remember WAY fewer people with Gender Identity Disorder than when I was in Middle School and high school.)
If you have a worldview that you would like to impart to your kids, better that you catch them young and take the responsibility for their education.
The Libertarian world view has some number of parts, and this is a substantial one. (Rent seeking and corrupt government regulators.)
The illustrations are great, and my sons liked them a lot.
Verdict: Strongly recommended
October 4, 2025
Book 4: The Tuttle Twins and the Food Truck Fiasco
Based on the classic Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt introducing the concepts of business, regulations, protectionism and competition.
Positive content:
• Highlights the value of entrepreneurship.
• Showcases the dangers of cronyism and protectionism
• Showcases the benefits of competition and freedom of choice has on a market
• Show that the responsibility for changing bad laws is in the hand of the citizens
Negative content
• Over emphasizes the negatives of regulation. Makes almost no mention of the dangers of business without regulation like the dangers of monopolies and harm when making money becomes the sole driver of business.
• Suggest that the way to handle a bad law is to break it
• Showcases the expectation that it is ok to break a bad law because enforcement is not expected.
• Showcases it is ok to disobey a law if enforcement can be reasonably expected to not be used.
• Equates a protest with breaking a law.
Consensus: This is one book I strongly object to because it encourages young literal thinkers to equate protest with breaking laws.
Based on the classic Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt introducing the concepts of business, regulations, protectionism and competition.
Positive content:
• Highlights the value of entrepreneurship.
• Showcases the dangers of cronyism and protectionism
• Showcases the benefits of competition and freedom of choice has on a market
• Show that the responsibility for changing bad laws is in the hand of the citizens
Negative content
• Over emphasizes the negatives of regulation. Makes almost no mention of the dangers of business without regulation like the dangers of monopolies and harm when making money becomes the sole driver of business.
• Suggest that the way to handle a bad law is to break it
• Showcases the expectation that it is ok to break a bad law because enforcement is not expected.
• Showcases it is ok to disobey a law if enforcement can be reasonably expected to not be used.
• Equates a protest with breaking a law.
Consensus: This is one book I strongly object to because it encourages young literal thinkers to equate protest with breaking laws.
March 4, 2021
This series has been a great resource for us as we've been studying the U.S. Constitution and are sliding naturally into government, citizenship, and economics. Admittedly, these books are a bit below the reading and comprehension level of our middle schoolers; nevertheless, each book has introduced or expounded upon topics and concepts with which we had only slight or no familiarity, so we have found them to be great springboards for discussion and further research.
In addition, these books are always based on some larger work, whose author (different from the Tuttle Twins author) is spotlighted after the story ends, with a brief introduction to the original book or essay from which the Twins story is derived. It has sparked my own interest in reading these original works for my own continued education!
This particular book elicited some laughs--there's a little more personality and humor in it than in the others so far. Also, one of the reporters pictured bears a striking resemblance to J. Jonah Jameson of Spider-Man fame! 😂
In addition, these books are always based on some larger work, whose author (different from the Tuttle Twins author) is spotlighted after the story ends, with a brief introduction to the original book or essay from which the Twins story is derived. It has sparked my own interest in reading these original works for my own continued education!
This particular book elicited some laughs--there's a little more personality and humor in it than in the others so far. Also, one of the reporters pictured bears a striking resemblance to J. Jonah Jameson of Spider-Man fame! 😂
October 11, 2022
One of the better books of the series so far, though I wish it didn't include the crony part. There can be protectionism without the mayor being buddies with the restaurant owner, and that added a completely separate issue that muddied the waters. Still the lesson on fair competition between businesses was a good one. The illustrations in parts of this did a really good job of illustrating what the text didn't. We had a good discussion about what kinds of things we might value at any given time (price, speed, type of food, etc.) and how having more competition - not less - allows us the freedom to get what we want.
December 18, 2020
The fourth installment of The Tuttle Twins is based on Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. This children's series is written from a Libertarian/small, conservative government perspective.
The boys were very interested in book #4 Food Truck Fiasco, which is about cronyism, protectionism, competition, and regulations.
The Tuttle Twins, Ethan and Emily, have a lemonade stand business. Shockingly, in this day and age, they weren't prevented from running that. The problem was discovered on Game Day at the stadium where they found out their friend was selling her pizza truck because the new regulations were making it difficult to run a profitable business. They spoke to other food truck owners and learned that everyone was struggling with the same issues. They also discovered that the owner of nearby Bob's Big BBQ was friends with the mayor and had brought about all these regulations to cut down on competition.
The twins and their father come up with a game plan and discuss it with the food truck operators. They hold a big event and invite the media to get coverage in order to gain support. Then they and the truck owners speak to the city council in order to overturn the regulations.
I consider this volume to be as good as #2, The Miraculous Pencil, which was my personal favorite so far. I definitely recommend this series to parents of elementary aged children. One of my older boys keeps reading the books before I can schedule them for a read aloud time. They are short, quick reads with good illustrations and are great conversation starters.
The boys were very interested in book #4 Food Truck Fiasco, which is about cronyism, protectionism, competition, and regulations.
The Tuttle Twins, Ethan and Emily, have a lemonade stand business. Shockingly, in this day and age, they weren't prevented from running that. The problem was discovered on Game Day at the stadium where they found out their friend was selling her pizza truck because the new regulations were making it difficult to run a profitable business. They spoke to other food truck owners and learned that everyone was struggling with the same issues. They also discovered that the owner of nearby Bob's Big BBQ was friends with the mayor and had brought about all these regulations to cut down on competition.
The twins and their father come up with a game plan and discuss it with the food truck operators. They hold a big event and invite the media to get coverage in order to gain support. Then they and the truck owners speak to the city council in order to overturn the regulations.
I consider this volume to be as good as #2, The Miraculous Pencil, which was my personal favorite so far. I definitely recommend this series to parents of elementary aged children. One of my older boys keeps reading the books before I can schedule them for a read aloud time. They are short, quick reads with good illustrations and are great conversation starters.
October 26, 2022
This is a story where some sheltered kids discover that ACAB (a timeless lesson indeed) and how breaking laws enacted in a democratic society sometimes is necessary to obtain justice.
I give it one star because I've never seen some kids simp so hard for business owners since Rittenhouse murdered some people. It was pretty awful, and it's definitely not something you want to be teaching your kids.
Also those kids charged that lady full price for some lemon water and she gave them food for free. Disgraceful.
I give it one star because I've never seen some kids simp so hard for business owners since Rittenhouse murdered some people. It was pretty awful, and it's definitely not something you want to be teaching your kids.
Also those kids charged that lady full price for some lemon water and she gave them food for free. Disgraceful.
July 18, 2017
I read this after taking my kids to eat at food trucks at a local gathering. I was a little worried it was going to tell me not to eat at food trucks. But instead, the message is pro-food trucks (yay!) and against protectionist laws (boo!). I love how the Tuttle Twins books make these concepts easy to understand and open up conversations. I also appreciate the recommendations for adults for further reading.
June 2, 2022
One of the better in the series. The kids learn a lot about the food business and working, and how people with political friends get special favors. They also learn that politicians with no backbone (about 99% of them) will fold like a cheap suit at the first sign of organized opposition to their corruption, in this case a mob angry the kids can't keep operating their food truck because the politicians are in the restaurant owner's pocket.
January 27, 2025
My favorite character is Ethan Tuttle because he is one of the main character's and he make's jokes a lot.What surprised me was what the owner of bob's BBQ was doing so that he would get more costumers and that the mayor was in on it. I would not change the ending because it think if you changed the ending you would change the part where the twins get rid of the food truck law.
April 30, 2025
I cannot emphasize enough how good these books are at teaching elementary Economics. My daughter and I have had amazing conversations and she is developing a good understanding of civics and how our governments work. We have 8 books left in this series and are looking forward to all the new topics that will be discussed. She loves the days we study economics!
February 15, 2022
This one is about protectionism - when the government passes laws or taxes on some businesses while exempting others. Sort of like during 2020 when the government declared some businesses and jobs as essentials and closing down others. How timely!
January 8, 2023
My favorite charterer is Jared because he's nice and handsome and helpful. He was also very successful. That surprised me because he was the smallest food truck owner. I would not Chang the ending of this book. I like that the food truck owners were happy in the end
June 3, 2024
This is a series written for libertarian families. This book discusses protectionism in economics. The best part: it shows kids how to change laws at the City Council! It includes a Glossary and Discussion Questions.
March 21, 2025
i'm a homeschooled 7th grader and i LOVE these books. It's perfect for children and teaches a very valuable lesson. it's perfect for all ages really and if you've got homeschooled kids these are the perfect books for them. I read them daily and i learn a new lesson daily!
December 21, 2017
It's really interesting this series exists and I like what they're doing. The illustrations are not done in my favorite art style, though.
March 14, 2019
It was a good lesson on small business. I look forward to covering Economics in One Lesson as a follow up. My daughter completed the workbook for this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews