Atiglio Leoni Politi (November 21, 1908 – March 26, 1996) was an American artist and author who wrote and illustrated some 20 children's books, as well as Bunker Hill, Los Angeles (1964), intended for adults.

Politi was transported to Italy at the age of seven — in an "Indian Chief suit," via transcontinental railroad and ocean liner — and grew up, constantly drawing, in his mother's native village of Broni near Milan.

On weekends, Leo and Marie packed a lunch basket and along with hundreds of other poor children lined up at a London theater to watch live shows and Charlie Chaplin films.

Politi later wrote of his technique: "(I) developed an ochre yellow, burnt sienna and a number of brown tints symbolic of the warmth and earthy qualities of the life and vegetation of the tropical Central American jungle.

I also used a lively blue-green symbolic of the water, sky and in small spots for precious stones used then in their ornaments as jade – all elements inherent to the Maya civilization.

He painted a mural on Olvera Street "The Blessing of the Animals", where he depicted a tradition of Catholicism in remembrance of St. Francis of Assisi's love for all creatures.

A one-man show at Alma Reed’s Delphic Studios in New York City in 1937 ultimately helped lead him into a career as a children's author and illustrator on Latin themes.

[citation needed] He also illustrated The Least One by Ruth Sawyer in 1941, Aqui se Habla Espanol by Margarita Lopez and Esther Brown in 1942 and Angelo, the Naughty One by Helen Garrett in 1944.

It marked a distinct departure from Politi's early impressionist, cubist and art deco styles to a softer and less dark, gritty execution that typified his later work.

In 1974, a branch of the Fresno Public Library was named for him,[5] and in 1991, the Leo Politi Elementary School was dedicated to him[citation needed] in Koreatown, a neighborhood in the Mid-Wilshire district of the City of Los Angeles.