And we turn them into childrens versions. We take the core ideas from these classic books. Wrap them in a fun, illustrate them beautifully. And now kids are learning a lot of these ideas that were only accessible previously to adults, but now they can be made more accessible kids. Where did you come up with the idea and the name . So partner and i, whos our illustrator, were both dads. Several years ago, when we had younger kids, we wanted to teach our kids these ideas. I went on amazon day, i was looking for books that would, you know allow me to talk to my kids about free market type ideas, personal freedom and and there was nothing there was a little bit about the constitution, but there wasnt really anything about some of these more fundamental ideas that the Founding Fathers really fighting for. So elijah and i got to talk and were like, well lets actually create something. Maybe theres market for it. We did. One book is kind of a labor love, a little test project. A lot of people bought it. And so weve continued from there, weve sold over 4 million books. Now were in 12 languages. We have a cartoon. Its just blowing up quite lot. So its a clearly the market has said, yes, we need and want this. And so were continuing to create more books. And the word tuttle, tuttle twins. I knew i wanted a boy and a girl because i wanted it relatable to boys and girls. So we chose twins and it was really a silly process of elimination. We wanted alliteration so we wanted a last name that began with a and we went through and said, you know, as the dot com website available, is there anyone already famous with this name . So it was kind of a Strategic Marketing process to come. The name i have people with the last name tuttle who come up and theyre like, oh, do you know what title this was . Name for them and i have to apologize. Say no, its kind of a boring story. But heres, heres what it is. And so thats how we landed on the name well looking at this volume here, American History, 1215 to 1776. Thats about 150 200 pages. Its 240 pages. This is a 50 book weve been working on for two and a half years. And heres the problem its addressing. I went on amazon and ebay two and a half years ago and i bought a whole bunch of social studies textbooks. I wanted to know how, are kids today in the schools being taught about the constitution . The declaration that the revolutionary war . So im flipping through all these books, kind of doing a little bit of research, analysis. All of these books did an amazing job at teaching what i consider superficial history who said what when when did this battle take place . Wrote a letter to whom . But the books miserably failed, in my estimation, when it came to teaching substantive history. In other words, why did do what they did and what were the ideas that they believed . The philosophy, the values . And theres a quote that all of know. Those who dont learn from the past doomed to repeat it. The problem that observed was that kids today are not being taught to learn from the past. Theyre just being taught about the. And so they grow up finding history burning irrelevant to their lives. They dont understand why what happened 250 years ago should matter today. And so our book is an attempt to not only teach what happened early American History, but more importantly, say here were the ideas they were for. Heres what animated them and heres how those ideas apply our modern world today. Why did you pick. Years 1215 to 1777 . So 1215 is the magna carta this kind of the proto constitution, the early effort to codify and a document, the protection of rights. So we wanted to say if we want kids to understand early american and why the constitution was created, we have to rewind a little bit more importantly or in addition to the magna carta. In the 1200s, we have the silk road you had, you know, all of these early traders that led to exploration into far off lands, trying to find new spices and new products that they could trade along the silk. And that exploration led to colonization which led america. So if we want to understand American History, we have to rewind a bit and understand the forces that developed led into this. So what we say is that the story of america is actually a story of trade a story of exploration to make our lives better and. Embark on this project of human flourishing. That is the story of america. Theres 1619 project and others that are trying to cast American History as one of enslaved men and White Supremacy others. That narrative is one that we dont agree with. We that premise premise we believe that the american story really began human flourishing, free trade. And that is what led to america today. Well, i want to read a quote from. Nicole hamer of columbia university. Youve probably seen this, but i want to get your response. The tuttle twins books regularly haunt by right wing radio host glenn beck range from ford books to graphic novels, economics, curriculum guides. They join a growing array of conservative childrens literature. And she goes on to say that these books are to fight what the right sees as liberal indoctrination with some indoctrinate of their own. I believe was the cnn op ed. We sold over 100,000 books after this article came out. It was great for business. I would encourage her to write a sequel and publish another one. It was very for business but but to the merit of her argument. That article in particular was trying to claim that in fact i believe title was the right wing childrens education complex is upon us. And the premise of her article that we on the right are to nothing that is in fact no left wing liberal indoctrination. Theres nothing. See here. Therefore, you guys on right are not needed and youre responding to nothing. I think thats a false premise. I think an unfair criticism to suggest that. Theres nothing on these socalled left that is attempting to propagandize children or introduce. I mean, we have a toddler now called antiracist baby and theres kinds of efforts to teach children from a different perspective. So its its simply not true to say were responding to nothing. I think is a fair criticism to say that we are socalled propagandizing children from the perspective of the right. Those who believe, you know, free markets, personal freedom. Natural, natural liberty. But to that, i say everyone propagandize children. You look at the word propaganda just means to propagate, to disseminate information. I think it can often be construed in a negative way when youre trying to teach information to the exclusion, other ideas and say, this is truth, i am authority, you must accept it. I think wrong. Thats not what were doing. Were doing with the tuttle twins is empowering families to talk about ideas that to our modern world. We provide discussion questions. We have activity workbooks and the rest designed to say, hey, guys heres what we believe. Talk about it as a family and see what you believe. So less an effort to say. Here is the correct and only way to view the world and more a way to empower parents who likely already agree with our worldview. But want to then pass on to their children same ideas much as they would from a religious context. They might take their kids to sunday or have bible study or Something Like that. But from now, a political or economic standpoint, were empowering those families to talk about these ideas with their children that they already believe and have every right to be talking to their kids in that respect. And youve moved beyond books, cartoons and youtube channels. Thats right. Yeah. We have a podcast and a game, and we launched a cartoon, became the worlds top funded kids project, and is doing phenomenally. Were about to season one. This is an extreme, high quality animated kids cartoon show. And the effort, again, is to have this be something for the whole family where i think of it kind of like the simpsons, where i grew up watching it and i would find jokes funny as a child, but my parents had that kind of intellectual humor that they were getting from the simpsons. Thats our goal is that we can have stuff for the young. And for the adults that they can be learning this and laughing together. The most recent in the tuttle twins book series is americas. History 1215 to 1776. A tuttle series of stories. Connor boyack is the creator and well, wed like to welcome back to book tv. Michael shermer, his most recent book is the devil his due came out in 2020. Michael shermer what are you trying to accomplish in giving the devil his due . Well, this is my defense of free speech. Im pretty much a free speech fundamentalist. The devil is whoever you dont agree with or disagrees with, you or whose ideas you dont like. Thats the devil. And he should be given his due because you would want the same thing when youre opinions are not