Preparing for children

1,026 words

Connor Boyack
The Tuttle Twins and the Days of Darkness
Libertas Press, 2023

The Tuttle Twins is a series for young readers that focuses on teaching children about citizenship, economics and politics, while also exploring theories and solutions outside the mainstream.

I heard about the books through Candace Owens, and since I had nothing new to read at the time, I decided to check them out. Unfortunately, I ordered The Tuttle Twins and the Teaching Profession because this was the only copy readily available (used) here in Germany; every other volume would have had to be imported from the US. I say “unfortunately” because this particular volume was a little… biased, shall we say? Emily and Ethan Tuttle, the eponymous twins, learn how conventional school teaching methods are designed to mold students into average members of society, rather than allowing them to study according to their own interests and talents. (There’s certainly a lot to discuss.) Later in the book, they travel to Europe with their parents. And guess what – England is very English, with scones and Big Ben. France is very French. Germany is a double-page spread of Hitler and Nazi photos. And Sweden is all blueberries and red wooden houses. But before they can get there, of course, they’re pulled over by a German police officer who demands to know why those kids aren’t in school. (Yeah, as if.) Because homeschooling isn’t allowed in Germany, you see. This is not the case in Sweden either, we learn, but we don’t see a Swedish police officer anywhere who wants to send the Tuttles to Auschwitz or anything like that.

So that wasn’t a very successful start. I decided to move to another branch of the Tuttle Twins books, this one is aimed at older children. It’s called Choose your consequenceand fantasy roleplayers may be familiar with the concept from Steve Jackson’s books: you start a story, and at certain points you have to decide how to proceed. For choice X, turn to page 123, for choice Y, turn to page 456, and so on.

As a bit of a prepper I of course opted for The Tuttle Twins and the Days of Darknessand unlike The profession of teachingIt was a lot of fun. While Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle are on the other side of the country, something (we never learn exactly what it was) hits the American power grid and it goes out. The twins, fortunately with their elderly friend and neighbor Fred at their side, must now survive a full-fledged, year-long blackout. (“Everybody needs a boomer in their pack when the shit hits the fan,” Canadian Prepper says.)

Author Connor Boyack keeps it as family friendly as possible, but there are choices that can lead to an ugly death. He explains in the story how dependent our society is on a working grid, even for such seemingly simple things as transportation, how modern civilization can quickly collapse, and what essentials anyone prepared should have on hand. In the story, especially the good or bad choices, he also teaches about survival strategies. The most important one: create a community. The lone wolf mentality will get you killed. Something to keep in mind for white “individualists”, I guess…

The twins initially have several options: stay home, go to a public shelter in the city, try to get to their grandmother’s house in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, or join a prepper group that Fred has connections with. I naturally chose the latter – those are the guys you want to hang with! The depiction of the group is rather bizarre, though; it’s almost like a small army of 300 people, complete with their own compound in the woods. Not exactly the kind of preppers I know.

A road trip to Grandma’s isn’t the safest option, of course, but by being smart and finding allies, the twins can pull it off. In accordance with The Tuttle Twins‘ economic themes, such an option even introduces the free money system to young readers. Although Michael Unterguggenberger of Wörgl is not mentioned by name, his experiment is clearly referenced, especially since illustrator Elijah Stanfield is a “long-time student of Austrian economics, (and) history.” That was a nice surprise.

Staying home brings its own problems: looters and criminal gangs, first and foremost. Boyack’s solutions range from risky (give the gang some stuff and try to make them see you as a fellow human being) to obvious but very dangerous (fight). While I understand what Boyack is trying to do, I find the storyline about befriending the looters completely irresponsible. Yes, it could work if you’re dealing with – like the twins – average white citizens who have simply fallen on hard times. But Ethan’s soccer coach probably isn’t representative of most looters and gang members in a crisis.

The city camp is portrayed as the worst option, or at least the least appealing. The twins are safe there, yes, but that’s about all the place has to offer. And honestly, I don’t think they’d be safe there in real life, considering the people the twins would be stuck with for a year.

Adult readers will appreciate Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle’s desperate attempts to get back to their children, even if it means crossing an entire continent. That storyline is always there in the background.

When I think about it, The days of darkness reminded me a bit of what is perhaps my favorite book about the end of World War II in Germany, Get out of this witches’ cauldron. These are not one but two diaries by Renate Umbreit and Irmgard Erbslöh, two young women who, together with a third, were trying to get from Berlin to Thuringia at the time – forced to take the long route via Itzehoe (northwest of Hamburg), as most of the bridges over the Elbe had been blown up. Their apocalyptic adventures in April and May 1945 would make a great road movie. This is a fun way to teach children (and even adults) about crisis preparation, and I highly recommend it.