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Mission Bell
Children's illustrated book.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Leo Politi
44 books18 followersLeo Politi was born in California and spent most of his childhood in Italy. He was an artist and children's book author. He was especially drawn toward Mexican themes.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 27, 2022
Written, more importantly, painted in 1953 by the amazingly talented Leo Politi, this is a book the anti-CRT, anti-reality loonies would love. Junipero Serra was a horrid, cruel man who was responsible for the brutal enslavement of many thousands of indigenous Californians, and for their subsequent deaths from overwork, torture and disease. He and his conquistadores were the first face of European colonization for the Californian Indian population; and a bleak, genocidal encounter it was. In this children’s book Junipero is made out to be a jovial, gentle, loving “father”-type. And the Indians? They are hopeless, ignorant:
“Poor ones!...They are like lost children in need of guidance and care.”
This counterfactual story is told through the eyes of a little “Indian” boy from Mexico who (surprise!) adores Junipero. He is along, on this journey (to establish the first mission in California) to translate. Because - of course - all Indians speak “Indian” - you know - how the Tarahumara or Ópata in northern Mexico shared a common language with the Sycuan and Barona of southern California in the mid-18th century? Well, gather round, children, in fact they did not. They each had their own nations, languages and culture. Imagine that. And they’d lived for tens of thousands of years in balance with the Earth. Pre-Junipero. And no little Indian boy from some mythical Indian tribe in Mexico could possibly translate for the Spanish colonial invaders. “Indian” isn’t a language. Just like “white boy” isn’t a language, even if you yell, really loudly.
Also no backstory - why is this little brown (see the illustrations) boy travelling sans father/mother? Was he kidnapped by the “good” padre?
Just wonderin’?
As the first mission is established (via the work of the Indians who in this telling, all arrive voluntarily) at San Diego, the childlike Indians learn:
That animals reproduce!
How to cook!
How to weave!
Isn’t it amazing they survived before being enslaved? Thank heavens the Spanish arrived, I guess, just in time!
“They were happy in their new home. No longer had they to live in fear of hunger…
The California Indians, before European colonization, did not hunger. People arriving a hundred years later than this, those arriving mid-19th century, describe rivers so full of fish they could catch them with their bare hands; forests so full of wildlife, woodlands so rich with berries, oceans so full of sea life, mussels, and oysters and abalone - no, Grasshopper, hunger was not an issue for the indigenous population of what became northern Mexico. Read their tales, read their own histories.
I do not believe in banning books, but I do think some books written for children should come with a warning - not all you read, even if it’s beautifully illustrated, as this is, should be taken to heart. Junipero Serra should be a character in a Grimm brother’s tale, not written into a sycophantic, false paean pretending to represent history. Zero stars for the words and the damage they may do and may have done, four stars for the quality of the illustrations.
“Poor ones!...They are like lost children in need of guidance and care.”
This counterfactual story is told through the eyes of a little “Indian” boy from Mexico who (surprise!) adores Junipero. He is along, on this journey (to establish the first mission in California) to translate. Because - of course - all Indians speak “Indian” - you know - how the Tarahumara or Ópata in northern Mexico shared a common language with the Sycuan and Barona of southern California in the mid-18th century? Well, gather round, children, in fact they did not. They each had their own nations, languages and culture. Imagine that. And they’d lived for tens of thousands of years in balance with the Earth. Pre-Junipero. And no little Indian boy from some mythical Indian tribe in Mexico could possibly translate for the Spanish colonial invaders. “Indian” isn’t a language. Just like “white boy” isn’t a language, even if you yell, really loudly.
Also no backstory - why is this little brown (see the illustrations) boy travelling sans father/mother? Was he kidnapped by the “good” padre?
Just wonderin’?
As the first mission is established (via the work of the Indians who in this telling, all arrive voluntarily) at San Diego, the childlike Indians learn:
That animals reproduce!
How to cook!
How to weave!
Isn’t it amazing they survived before being enslaved? Thank heavens the Spanish arrived, I guess, just in time!
“They were happy in their new home. No longer had they to live in fear of hunger…
The California Indians, before European colonization, did not hunger. People arriving a hundred years later than this, those arriving mid-19th century, describe rivers so full of fish they could catch them with their bare hands; forests so full of wildlife, woodlands so rich with berries, oceans so full of sea life, mussels, and oysters and abalone - no, Grasshopper, hunger was not an issue for the indigenous population of what became northern Mexico. Read their tales, read their own histories.
I do not believe in banning books, but I do think some books written for children should come with a warning - not all you read, even if it’s beautifully illustrated, as this is, should be taken to heart. Junipero Serra should be a character in a Grimm brother’s tale, not written into a sycophantic, false paean pretending to represent history. Zero stars for the words and the damage they may do and may have done, four stars for the quality of the illustrations.
July 2, 2021
Read for the feast of St Junipero Serra July 1st. America owes such a debt to brave men with hearts fulls of charity like Padre Serra - if only people knew!
January 27, 2023
This is a beautifully illustrated book. Is it historically accurate, and does it paint a true picture of the Mission System in North America and the efforts of the Spanish to convert the indigenous peoples of California? Probably not. It is very obvious in this book that Father Serra sees the native people that he encounters as in desperate need of the teachings of the Spaniards, both religious and otherwise. Whether this was actually the case is definitely up for debate.
While 50 years ago teachers may have felt very satisfied when reading this book to their classes, today this book would best be used to contrast older beliefs about colonization with what we know to be the realities of what truly occurred.
Speaking as someone whose ancestors came to Mexico from Spain in the 1500s, and then moved into what is now the US a century later, when reading this book I would certainly take the actions of Father Serra and the tone of the book--that the Spaniards brought enlightenment to the people of California (and not disease, forced labor, and terrible punishments)--with a grain of salt.
While 50 years ago teachers may have felt very satisfied when reading this book to their classes, today this book would best be used to contrast older beliefs about colonization with what we know to be the realities of what truly occurred.
Speaking as someone whose ancestors came to Mexico from Spain in the 1500s, and then moved into what is now the US a century later, when reading this book I would certainly take the actions of Father Serra and the tone of the book--that the Spaniards brought enlightenment to the people of California (and not disease, forced labor, and terrible punishments)--with a grain of salt.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews