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Tuttle Twins #11
The Tuttle Twins and the Messed Up Market
Why do people make the choices they do?
Now that they ve made some money, Ethan and Emily Tuttle begin to wonder how they can put it to good use and earn even more. So the idea of a Children s Entrepreneur Market is born, which can help them find other kids who might want to borrow their money to build their small business. But as the twins soon learn thanks to the ideas from Human Action by Ludwig von Mises this is risky business. People have different incentives for why they make the choices they do, and certain choices can cause their market to become messed up!
Now that they ve made some money, Ethan and Emily Tuttle begin to wonder how they can put it to good use and earn even more. So the idea of a Children s Entrepreneur Market is born, which can help them find other kids who might want to borrow their money to build their small business. But as the twins soon learn thanks to the ideas from Human Action by Ludwig von Mises this is risky business. People have different incentives for why they make the choices they do, and certain choices can cause their market to become messed up!
59 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
9 people are currently reading
206 people want to read
About the author
Connor Boyack
92 books251 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 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 23, 2021
2021-02-13 Just finished this great little book for kids (10-16 years old?), #11 in the Tuttle Twins series of books.
I started with this book in the series, since it is dedicated to and takes good lessons from, my hero, Ludwig Mises. While and after reading the book, I was quite impressed and look forward to reading the rest of the series too.
Qualities of this book (and the whole series, hopefully):
- Nice size: 6"x 9" pb, with very good quality paper, 59 pages
- excellent color illustrations on most every page
- very readable, breezy, yet substantial dialog style, with real meat to it
- a few significant technical economic terms, but well and simply defined
- very positive, with a can-do attitude throughout
- reminded me of some of the best parts of the homeschooling experience with our son
Some of the great terms discussed in the book:
- "delayed gratification"
- Incentives
- Opportunity Costs
- Subsidies
- Trade-offs
Discussion questions at the end are provided too.
And I note that there is an Activity Workbook available for free download too.
If you have kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews or friends who have kids in this age group who might be interested in knowing more about business, markets, and/or economics, I highly recommend this book... and probably the whole series (based on this book and many other article by and about the author). I know I am looking forward to reading the other books too.
I started with this book in the series, since it is dedicated to and takes good lessons from, my hero, Ludwig Mises. While and after reading the book, I was quite impressed and look forward to reading the rest of the series too.
Qualities of this book (and the whole series, hopefully):
- Nice size: 6"x 9" pb, with very good quality paper, 59 pages
- excellent color illustrations on most every page
- very readable, breezy, yet substantial dialog style, with real meat to it
- a few significant technical economic terms, but well and simply defined
- very positive, with a can-do attitude throughout
- reminded me of some of the best parts of the homeschooling experience with our son
Some of the great terms discussed in the book:
- "delayed gratification"
- Incentives
- Opportunity Costs
- Subsidies
- Trade-offs
Discussion questions at the end are provided too.
And I note that there is an Activity Workbook available for free download too.
If you have kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews or friends who have kids in this age group who might be interested in knowing more about business, markets, and/or economics, I highly recommend this book... and probably the whole series (based on this book and many other article by and about the author). I know I am looking forward to reading the other books too.
October 10, 2023
A patron of my library requested this item through interlibrary loan and I've seen the ads for it so I figured I'd read it since I'd never actually seek it out.
The storytelling is fine. It wasn't boring. The plot starts with the twins learning that their grandmother was selling her business to the competition and, because the twins work for her, she'd be giving them a part of the proceeds. The twins are then encouraged to lend the money rather than save it to make more money "without doing any extra work."
They go on to set up a market where they can look for sellers that would be optimal to lend money to. There's one seller who seems to be uninterestedly selling brownies for cheap. They lament that he "doesn't even seem to be working hard." The contradictory viewpoint of it being okay for them to not have to work hard to make money but not him was odd, especially when it was Grandma who decided that she should give the twins the portion of money from the sale of her business in the first place.
They talk about incentives a lot in this book and I'd really like to know Brownie-seller's incentive because it doesn't seem like he has one at all while all the other sellers' motivations are apparent in the story. I think this is the main issue I have with this book since it's such a major topic.
My secondary issue is the portrayal of governmental overreach, which I expected as this is a libertarian homeschool book so it's going to have that bias. The example of roadwork stopping people from getting where they need to go, as if there would never be roadwork in a libertarian utopia. The other example was permits. It does suck that people have to jump through hurdles to get permits, but it sucks way worse to have food poisoning, or to constantly lose access to your favorite park because it's covered in vendors (maybe the incentive of the Brownie-seller was to sell people cheap laxative-laced brownies for a lark. Sorry, I'm super fixated on Brownie-seller. What is his incentive!?).
Anyway, I gave this two stars because, even though it isn't the purpose of this book, it would be a nice example to teach (probably older) children about biases and how important it is to consider all factors of an issue. Look for the author's motivations and incentives, if you will.
The storytelling is fine. It wasn't boring. The plot starts with the twins learning that their grandmother was selling her business to the competition and, because the twins work for her, she'd be giving them a part of the proceeds. The twins are then encouraged to lend the money rather than save it to make more money "without doing any extra work."
They go on to set up a market where they can look for sellers that would be optimal to lend money to. There's one seller who seems to be uninterestedly selling brownies for cheap. They lament that he "doesn't even seem to be working hard." The contradictory viewpoint of it being okay for them to not have to work hard to make money but not him was odd, especially when it was Grandma who decided that she should give the twins the portion of money from the sale of her business in the first place.
They talk about incentives a lot in this book and I'd really like to know Brownie-seller's incentive because it doesn't seem like he has one at all while all the other sellers' motivations are apparent in the story. I think this is the main issue I have with this book since it's such a major topic.
My secondary issue is the portrayal of governmental overreach, which I expected as this is a libertarian homeschool book so it's going to have that bias. The example of roadwork stopping people from getting where they need to go, as if there would never be roadwork in a libertarian utopia. The other example was permits. It does suck that people have to jump through hurdles to get permits, but it sucks way worse to have food poisoning, or to constantly lose access to your favorite park because it's covered in vendors (maybe the incentive of the Brownie-seller was to sell people cheap laxative-laced brownies for a lark. Sorry, I'm super fixated on Brownie-seller. What is his incentive!?).
Anyway, I gave this two stars because, even though it isn't the purpose of this book, it would be a nice example to teach (probably older) children about biases and how important it is to consider all factors of an issue. Look for the author's motivations and incentives, if you will.
April 30, 2020
Super enjoyable and informational at a level that is easy to comprehend.
March 20, 2024
Great way to introduce kids to understand money a little more.
March 31, 2021
Weakly recommended
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2020
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.)
*******
My libertarian inclinations notwithstanding, I have a few problems with this book.
I just don't think that it is for children that are between 8 and 11 years old.
A sample list of the glossary terms (all of these books have glossary terms and discussion questions):
1. Delayed gratification
2. Incentive
3. Interest
4. Micro Enterprise
5. Opportunity cost
6. Praxeology
7. Risk
8. Subsidy
9. Trade off
Really?
Somebody who is not even in middle school is supposed to be spoken to intelligently/interested in praxeology?
The illustrations are great, and my sons liked them a lot.
Verdict: Weakly recommended. Maybe at the second hand price, or when it goes down to about a dollar.
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2020
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.)
*******
My libertarian inclinations notwithstanding, I have a few problems with this book.
I just don't think that it is for children that are between 8 and 11 years old.
A sample list of the glossary terms (all of these books have glossary terms and discussion questions):
1. Delayed gratification
2. Incentive
3. Interest
4. Micro Enterprise
5. Opportunity cost
6. Praxeology
7. Risk
8. Subsidy
9. Trade off
Really?
Somebody who is not even in middle school is supposed to be spoken to intelligently/interested in praxeology?
The illustrations are great, and my sons liked them a lot.
Verdict: Weakly recommended. Maybe at the second hand price, or when it goes down to about a dollar.
September 16, 2023
After making and selling things in markets themselves, my kids thought this book was interesting! Ideas like interfering with what should be a free market, what humans usually buy/don’t buy, working hard or not working hard because of incentives and risk (or lack thereof), subsidies…all of that made for some great discussions with my 10 and 13 year old.
November 10, 2021
Although this is a middle grade read it should be required reading by every member of Congress in Washington as it explains how giving handouts and bailing out industries does absolutely nothing to help the economy and actually has the opposite effect, hindering rather than helping.
September 24, 2021
Great. Can’t wait for my kids to read it.
January 28, 2022
Wowza, Connor! You hit a home run with this book that explains why subsidies are unfair and hurt the market.
April 26, 2025
I love the Tuttle Twins books. They are great for my son to get some basic concepts introduced to him and even as an adult. In this one the twins learn about opportunity cost, loans, subsidies, competition, and a few more things as it relates to and impacts the market.
February 23, 2024
This book is amazing my favorite character is maddox because he is a young entrepreneur and makes lots of money hot chocolate. Surprise me is the police had to shut The entrepreneurs down there's no harm with children selling stuff it's not like you're selling drugs or anything i would not change the ending at all because Tuttle twin books are amazing and I always have a good morning experience for whenever I read them and like in this book I learned how the messed up market works with the high interest in the olden days and now there's low interest which is why people take so much money out of the bank is there such low interest to pay back so it's like people hardly work to pay the bank back 5 out of 5
June 10, 2024
This is a series for libertarian families. In this last book of the series, the author discusses loans. Vocabulary words are used such as: incentives, opportunity cost, delayed gratification, interest, microenterprises, and risk. The book has a Glossary and Discussion questions, as well.
February 15, 2022
The Tuttle twins take on the free market and offer loans to other kids to set up their own businesses.
June 3, 2022
This go-round, the kids learn about making loans and collecting interest and being responsible business people and lenders.
September 9, 2022
Very informative
September 10, 2022
Fun simplification of Mises's Human Action. I think there's a lot here kids can relate to and enjoy.
October 22, 2023
Good lesson, but subsidies can have a positive role when a change is needed but costs seem too high
Want to read
March 23, 2024based on Human Action by Ludwig von Mises
November 6, 2025
We always have good conversations when reading these books! A good one for explaining how loans work.
November 12, 2025
This book was so very fun.
November 13, 2025
This book was so good 📘
February 21, 2021
Fantastic book! Well done.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews