Prepping for Kids

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 kids civics, economics, and politics. In so doing, it also goes into theories and solutions outside the mainstream.

I learned of the books’ existence via Candace Owens, and since I had nothing new to read at that time, I decided to check them out. Unfortunately, I ordered The Tuttle Twins and the Education Vocation as this was the only copy readily available here in Germany (used); any other volume would have had to be imported from the US. I say “unfortunately”, because this particular installment was a bit… biased, shall we say? Emily and Ethan Tuttle, the eponymous twins, learn about how conventional teaching methods at school are designed to mould pupils into cookie-cutter members of society, instead of allowing them to study according to their own interests and talents. (There is certainly much to discuss there.) Later in the book, they travel to Europe with their parents. And what do you know – England is very English, with scones and Big Ben. France is very French. Germany is a double-page spread of Hitler and Nazi pictures. And Sweden is all blueberries and red wooden houses. But before they are able to get there, they are of course stopped by a German policeman who demands to know why those children are not at school. (Yeah, as if.) Because homeschooling is not allowed in Germany, you see. Nor is it in Sweden, as we learn, but we don’t see a Swedish policeman ready to send the Tuttles to Auschwitz or something.

So that was not a very successful start. I decided to switch to another branch of the Tuttle Twins books, this one aimed at older kids. It’s called Choose Your Consequence, and fantasy role-players out there might be familiar with the concept from the Steve Jackson books: You start with a story and at certain points have to decide how to proceed. For choice X, turn to page 123, for choice Y, go to page 456, and so on.

As a bit of a prepper, I naturally picked The Tuttle Twins and the Days of Darkness, and in contrast to The Education Vocation, it was great fun. While Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle are away at the other end of the country, something (we are never told what it actually was) hits the US grid, and it goes down. The twins, fortunately with their elderly friend and neighbor Fred by their side, now have to navigate a full-blown, year-long blackout situation. (“Everybody needs a boomer in their group when the crap hits the fan,” according to Canadian Prepper.)

Author Connor Boyack keeps it as family-friendly as possible, but there are choices that can lead to an ugly death. He explains through the story how dependent our society is on a working grid, even for such apparently simple things like transportation, how modern civilization can quickly collapse, and what essentials any preparedness-minded person should have on hand. Through the story, especially the good or bad choices, he also teaches about survival strategies. The most important one: Have a community. The lone wolf mentality will get you killed. Something to remember for white “individualists”, I suppose…

The twins have several options at first: Hunker down at home, go to the public shelter in town, try to get to their grandmother’s house in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, or join a prepper group Fred has contacts in. Of course, I chose the latter – those are the guys you want to stick with! The portrayal of the group, however, is rather bizarre; it’s almost a small army of 300 people, complete with their own compound in the woods. Not exactly the kind of preppers that I know.

A road trip to grandma is obviously not the safest option, but by acting smart and finding allies, the twins can manage it. In keeping with The Tuttle Twins’ economic themes, one such option even introduces the free money system to young readers. While Wörgl’s Michael Unterguggenberger is not mentioned by name, his experiment is obviously referred to, especially since illustrator Elijah Stanfield is a “longtime student of Austrian economics, [and] history”. That was a nice surprise.

Sheltering in place comes with 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 highly dangerous (fight). While I get what Boyack is trying to do, I think the storyline about befriending the looters is completely irresponsible. Yes, it might work if you are dealing – like the twins – with your average white citizens who have simply fallen on hard times. But Ethan’s football coach is probably not representative of most looters and gang members in a crisis situation.

The camp in town is portrayed as the worst possible option, or at least the most unattractive one. The twins are safe there, yes, but that is about all the place has to offer. And frankly, I don’t think they’d be safe there in real life, considering some of 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 they have to cross an entire continent. That storyline is always present in the background.

Thinking about it, The Days of Darkness reminded me a little of what is possibly my favorite book about the end of World War II in Germany, Raus aus diesem Hexenkessel. It’s not one but two diaries by Renate Umbreit and Irmgard Erbslöh, two young women at the time who, along with a third, tried to make their way from Berlin home to Thuringia – by necessity taking the long route via Itzehoe (that’s northwest of Hamburg), as most bridges over the river Elbe had been blown up. Their apocalyptic adventures in April and May of 1945 would make a great road movie.This is a fun way of teaching children (and even adults) about crisis preparedness, and I highly recommend it.