Fourth grade is the first and last time most people learn anything about the mission period in California. In case you don’t know, the state social studies curriculum mandates that all fourth graders be able to “describe the social, political, cultural, and economic life and interactions among people of California from the pre-Columbian societies to the Spanish mission and Mexican rancho periods.” A tall order, isn’t it? But if you ask most Californians what they know about the mission era they will tell that you all they remember is their fourth grade project, which usually involved building a model of a mission church. So it is crucial that kids get good information…

Friends often ask me where they should begin in learning about the California missions. There are are so many books about the California missions out there — some of which I’ll review later — that it is hard to know where to start.  Below are a few books that have helped me.  All of these are ones I own and have used to over and over again. 1.  General overview: The California Missions: A Complete Pictorial History and Visitor’s Guide (Sunset Pictorial) by the editors of Sunset Books. I think this is the first book I read on the California missions. Although it was originally published  in the 1960s (1970s?), the…