The Missions: California's Heritage : Mission San Antonio De Padua Paperback – January 1, 1988

The author did a nice job on this little book. I think it will hold a 10 year old's attention sufficient to complete a missions project for school. For his first official research project, I prefer having my son use this book as a source of information versus the internet. However, it's little...at only 24 pages long and that number includes at least five "nothing" pages (blank or non-text). The pages are photocopied 8.5x11 sheets folded and stapled down the "spine." The book has a card stock cover. I paid a fortune ($14) for a pamphlet. But, if you don't have time to get to a library and you prefer to have your kid perform some "traditional" book research, then this pamphlet will do the trick. There is a cute note from the author on the inside cover: "Good luck, read carefully, and use your own words."

We used resources from this same author before for other California history projects, so I was surprised to find passages in this booklet describing "trouble-making" Indians, brutal attacks on the missions by Indians and heroic efforts by the neophytes to protect their beloved padres. Clearly the author's sympathies lie with the missionaries and the near genocide of the native peoples is fairly glossed over. I would not recommend using this as your sole resource for a mission project.Currently the Huntington Gardens library has an excellent mission exhibit which includes a fair amount of Native American/Indian artifacts and perspectives.

We used this in addition to Kim Ostrow's book and between the two there are many important facts uncovered that you do not find in the internet. Both books cover little details asked by the teacher. I especially like the definitions on the back of the book and the illustrations provided (the detail of the quadrangle and where the rooms were). I would highly recommend this author in addition to Kim Ostrow as resources.

There weren't too many choices available for additional reference materials on this particular mission. I had another son that did Mission San Luis Rey de Francia and felt there was far more detail available on that mission. It might just be that Mission Santa Barbara history wasn't as interesting. So it's hard to say whether the book is thin due to omission or just the lack of interesting material on this mission. I'd probably still buy it again though.

This was helpful with the 4th grade mission project. He had visited there but needed more details. This had good information

The book is really a like a pamphlet but it gets the job done for those California 4th graders who need reading material for their Mission Project.

Great little book for my son's 4th grade mission project. It's available at the library, but at least 15 other kids in the neighborhood were assigned this same mission and requested holds, so it was nice to order this to have at home so that he could reference it throughout the 2 months he had to work on his model, written report, and Keynote presentation.

Mission San Francisco de Asis--Book 6 in a Series of Twenty-one (The Missions :California's Heritage)This slight pamphlet about Mission Dolores must be some kind of approved publication of the Catholic Church.Quite a disappointment. Lacks reproductions of historic photos, documents and maps. Includes seven amateurish line drawings--the front cover has a drawing of the Mission as how it may have looked upon completion, the inside of the back cover has a list of the twenty-one Missions plotted along a line representing the coastline of California, and a rather inaccurate, poorly hand drawn floor plan of the Mission. The text, originally published in 1988, provides many factual inaccuracies, glosses over the importance of the Ohlone and Miwok Indians in the establishment of the Mission, and includes no "Further Reading" list. The Bibliography cites only four sources, one of which is Sunset Magazine.Save your money, and skip this over-priced pamphlet.