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{{Short description|British series of Latin textbooks}}
{{about|the textbook series|the character in ''Animal Farm''|Animal_Farm#Pigs|}}
The '''Minimus''' books are a series of school textbooks, written by Barbara Bell, illustrated by Helen Forte, and published by the [[Cambridge University Press]], designed to help children of [[primary school]] age to learn [[Latin]]. The books espouse some of the principles of the [[direct method (education)|direct method]] of language teaching, and feature a mouse of the same name; {{lang|la|minimus}} is ([[Latin language|Latin]] for "smallest", and also a pun on {{lang|la|mus}} — Latin for "mouse".  Minimus is known by the publisher as "the mouse that made Latin cool".<ref name="Minimus Website">{{cite web | title =Minimus Website | publisher =Dr Helen Forte | date = 10 October 2006 | url =http://www.minimuslatin.co.uk/ | accessdate =2021-01-04}}</ref>  There are two books in the series: ''Minimus: Starting out in Latin'' and ''Minimus Secundus''.  The first book is aimed at 7- to 10-year-olds, and the second continues the education for children up to 13 years old.
The stories presented in each chapter revolve around a family. The family is based on a real family who lived at the Roman fort of [[Vindolanda]] near [[Hadrian’s Wall]] in northern Britain. The books feature many artifacts from Vindolanda, integrating real objects into fictional plot lines.
In 2011, it was reported that 125,000 copies had been sold.<ref>{{Cite news| last = Johnson | first = Boris | title = Now is the time to dust off your Latin and Ancient Greek and help keep classics from becoming history | newspaper = TES | date = 2011-07-08 | url =http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6095390 | accessdate =2011-07-09}}</ref>
==Regular characters==
*Minimus, a mouse
*Vibrissa ([[Latin language|Latin]] for [[Whiskers|Whisker]]), the family cat
*Flavius, the father and fort commander of [[Vindolanda]]
*[[Sulpicia Lepidina|Lepidina]], the mother
*Flavia, the daughter
*Iulius, the older son
*Rufus, the youngest child of the family
*Corinthus, a Greek slave who is excellent at reading and writing
*Candidus, a British slave who is very good at cooking
*Pandora, a slave girl who is a hairdresser
* Trifosa, Pandora’s replacement
==Italian version==
In 2007, the Minimus books were adapted for [[Italy|Italian]] pupils.  As a single volume, the material is aimed at an older audience.<ref name="Italian">{{cite web| title =Minimus Avviamento al Latino | url =http://www.minimus-etc.co.uk/italian_page.htm | accessdate =2007-05-14}}</ref> The setting of the stories is altered to several European locations<ref>{{cite news | title =Squeakus! | work =TES | date =2007-04-06 | url =http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2366499 | accessdate =2007-05-14 | url-status =dead | archiveurl =https://web.archive.org/web/20070930041816/http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2366499 | archivedate =2007-09-30 }}</ref> and there is considerably more formal grammar and exercises, in line with Italian teaching methods.<ref name="Italian"/>
==See also==
*[[Cambridge Latin Course]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.minimuslatin.co.uk/ Minimus website]
[[Category:Education in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Latin textbooks]]
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