Minimus Pupil's Book: Starting Out in Latin

Open the first page to Minimus, read the cartoons, and immediately feel as if you have conquered Latin! Having had no Latin background, I was intimidated to begin teaching my challenging 12 year old. Despite any initial apprehension, my daughter took to the book without fear. The clear colors in the illustrations aren't overwhelming to the text, and the humor is evident immediately. I did think that the text type made "l" and "i" a tad hard to differentiate. My daughter already claims to have learned quite a bit, even with just a few lessons. The other day while having lunch, she asked me a Latin grammar question! Now that is a book I like.

I am a Latin teacher, grades 5 through 12. This is by far the best thing available for elementary students to use in learning Latin, The cartoons are well-designed and increase gradually in difficulty. My elementary students are able to trannslate the first story without any previoius Latin instruction. Grammar sections reinforce common English grammar concepts, like nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Culture of Roman Britain, as well as a soldier's life, is presented. Kids quickly become fond of the main character, Minimus the mouse. Classical roots to difficult English words, like patriarchal and infantile, are covered. Students are able to progress from Minimus to higher foreign language easily.Parents without a Latin background, might want to obtain the teacher's book, which contains all the answers to the student book as well as reproducible masters for additional activities, suggestions for learning games and activities, and even a Roman recipe. The ISBN for the Teacher's Resource Book is 0-521-65961-2.

This is a delightful introduction to Latin for the younger set. Engaging, but not trivalizing, it managed to lead children into an understanding of Latin without overburdening them. It's also a fine source of background on Roman culture, and chock full of good stories.

This is the most enjoyable little book to get the kids into Latin for the first time. If you tought Latin is as dead as the dodo, you may have to thing again.It is a rigorous mind structuring discipline, and is the basis to really understand a very substancial part of the English language(and many others).The naive illustrations on the comic strips of the book are superb.Besides, the renaissance work that lies behind this book is a remarkable feat of culture.