Customer Reviews

Minimus Pupil's Book: Starting out in Latin

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

Caveat - I'm just a suburban guy who wanted to teach his kids Latin, but remembered almost nothing about the two years of Latin that I had in high school.

This was the first Latin book that I exposed my elementary school-aged daughters to, in conjunction with Rosetta Stone. The first chapters went well, and they were excited. About chapter 4, however, the scattershot presentation took its toll, and they were getting frustrated. The material just isn't organized in a way to methodically introduce basic Latin to a kid.

I put Minimus and Rosetta Stone on the shelf, and got William Linney's "Getting Started with Latin." After this simplified introduction to basic grammar (we took 6 months to get through the 132 lessons, spending about 20 minutes a day), I pulled out Minimus again. They enjoyed it MUCH more.

I've also got all 20 of the Minibooks in the Minimus series (each small book contains about 10 cartoon panels), as well as Minimus Secundus. My daughters enjoy them very much - but again, only as supplemental reading. Begin with the Linney book, or Primer A, and then give them Minimus once a week, to break things up.

In summary - by all means, use Minimus as a colorful adjunct to whatever Latin program you end up with. But don't use it as a primary text.

Many books on "dead" languages are very dry (BORING). I recommend this book as a first book in latin even for adults. You can get through the entire book in a few days, and get a running start if you wish to go further in your studies. If you dont go further you will have read an interesting book. Everyone I have shared this book with realizes they too can do this latin thing. They want more. Notice there was a demand from the people reading volume I for the publisher to print a second simliar book.
No one book can teach you all of latin. If this book does nothing else but change latin from a thing other people do to something you do... well it has served its purpose.
Its worth the money. You will spend more than this on entertainment where you dont learn a thing. Buy the book!

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.

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.

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.

I have a 7 year old daughter and wanted to lay a foundation of a language for her. So, we bought this book. She actually pulls this book out and wants to learn more about Latin. We enjoy the stories that go along with it! We like history as well, and it delves into the Roman culture at that time! Purchase it and enjoy!

I am developing a 5th and 6th grade Latin program at my middle school, and I have been delighted with the Minimus books. The kids really seem to like them, and I appreciate the bright colors and easy to follow story line. I am supplementing with more of a traditional paradigm approach to learning the grammar, but the books provide a great launching point for discussion and reading that is much more fun than just sitting around memorizing verb endings. Some of the material is very British, so I have to explain some of the references to my kids, but other than that it is a wonderful curriculum.

My homeschooled 8-year old loves the comic-book format of the chapter stories and often reads ahead just for the fun of it. The pictures are lively and colorful, but not childish. The additional material -- myths, historical information, photos -- really do add a cultural aspect to his learning. There is more than enough new material in each chapter to keep him interested and learning!

This is a very sound method to teach Latin to the younger crowd. Would be perfect for homeschooling families! The story, based on archaelogical digs in Vindolanda, near Hadrian's wall in Britain, is entertaining and very engaging, and the skills build up painlessly. Highly recommended! I use it with 5th graders, who are known to read stories ahead of the class!