User Contributed Dictionary
Extensive Definition
The Minimus books are a series of school
textbooks, written by Barbara Bell, illustrated by Dr. Helen Forte,
and published by the Cambridge
University Press, designed to help children of primary
school age to learn Latin. The books are
named after the mouse Minimus (Latin: Small) who is
known as "The mouse that made Latin cool". There are two books in
the series: Minimus: Starting out in Latin and Minimus Secundus.
While the first book is aimed at 7-10 year olds, the second
continues the series 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
Vindolanda, in
northern Britain in 100 CE. The books
feature many artifacts from Vindolanda, integrating real objects
into fictional plot lines.
Regular Characters
- Minimus, a mouse
- Vibrissa (Latin: Whiskers), the family cat
- Flavius, the father and fort commander of Vindolanda
- Lepidina, the mother
- Flavia, the daughter
- Iulius, the older son
- Rufus, the youngest child of the family
- Corinthus, a Greek slave
- Candidus, a British slave
- Pandora, a slave
Italian Minimus
In 2007, the Minimus books were adapted for
Italian
pupils. As a single volume, the material is aimed at an older
audience. The setting of the stories is altered to several European
locations and there is considerably more formal grammar and
exercises, in line with Italian teaching methods.