The Picta Dicta Latin Reader series is a collection of Latin readers suitable for students that are working through the Latin Primer Series or another Latin grammar curriculum. Each reader is numbered according to its grammatical difficulty (1/2 - 4 1/2) and comes with a complete Latin - English lexicon. Picta Dicta's app-based vocabulary builder is available for the first three readers, with the rest under construction.
BOOKS AT A GLANCE
Puer et Monstrum (“The Boy and the Monster”) is a Latin reader designed for beginning Latin students that have completed the first half of Picta Dicta Latin Primer (vol. 1). Since these stories introduce no new grammatical forms and very few new vocabulary words, they provide a fun and easy way to strengthen concepts and vocabulary the students have just learned before going on to new material.
This reader is also perfect for any Latin students who have learned the following grammar concepts:
- 2nd Decl. Masculine and Neuter Nouns (Singular)
- 2nd Decl. Masculine Nouns (Plural)
- Nominative Case
- Genitive Case
- Dative Case
- Accusative Case
- Ablative Case
- 3rd-Person Singular Verbs
Fabellae Simplices ("Simple Stories") by Joseph and Lia Roberts is a basic Latin reader with twelve stories—specifically designed for beginning Latin students that have just completed Picta Dicta Latin Primer (vol. 1). Since these stories introduce no new grammatical forms and very few new vocabulary words, they provide a fun and easy way to strengthen concepts and vocabulary the students have just learned before going on to new material.
This reader is also perfect for any Latin students who have learned the following:
- 1st Declension Nouns
- 2nd Declension Masculine Nouns
- 2nd Declension Neuter Nouns
- Nominative Case
- Genitive Case
- Dative Case
- Accusative Case
- Ablative Case
- 3rd-Person Singular and Plural Verbs
Mustelae Maris ("Weasels of the Sea") by Joseph and Lia Roberts is a series of original fantasy stories centered around an unscrupulous and unfortunate crew of Weasel Pirates. These stories are perfect for students who have worked halfway through Picta Dicta Latin Primer (vol. 2). Since these stories introduce no new grammatical forms and few new vocabulary words, students are able to quickly understand and enjoy these stories while reinforcing or reviewing what they have already learned.
This reader is also perfect for any Latin students who have learned the following:
- 1st - 3rd Declension Nouns
- 1st - 2nd Declension Adjectives
- All Cases
- 3rd-Person Active and Passive Indicative
- Active Infinitives
Marcus Mirandus ("Marcus the Odd") by Matthew Frazer is a short novel set in the 19th century about a boy named Marcus who has delusions of grandeur. These stories are appropriate for students who have worked at least halfway through Picta Dicta Latin Primer (vol. 2) and have completed the classroom grammar lessons on verbs. Since these stories introduce no new grammatical forms and few new vocabulary words, students are able to quickly understand and enjoy these stories while reinforcing or reviewing what they have already learned.
This reader is also perfect for any Latin students who have learned the following:
- 1st-3rd Declension Nouns
- 1st-2nd Declension Adjectives
- All Cases
- 1st-3rd Person Active Indicative
- 3rd Person Passive Indicative
- Active Infinitives
- Active Imperatives
Marcus Captus (“Marcus Captured”) is a level-2½ Latin reader and the second half of a novel about a boy named Marcus with delusions of grandeur set in the 19th-century. At the end of the first half of the story, Marcus Mirandus, Marcus’ underdeveloped instinct for self-preservation leads him to an abandoned tower. In this volume, he initiates a series of events that quickly become very serious.
This reader is also perfect for any Latin students who have learned the following grammar concepts:
- 1st-Declension through 5th-Declension Nouns
- All Cases
- All Persons of Present Active Verbs
- All Persons of Present Passive Verbs
- Active and Passive Present Infinitive Verbs
- Imperative Verbs
- Present Active Participles
Fabulae Phaedri
Vergilii Aeneidos Liber V
Vergilii Aeneidos Liber V
Fabulae Phaedri is a student edition of the freed Roman slave Phaedrus's fables, which were themselves poetry adaptations of Aesop's famous fables. It is Phaedrus’ Latin edition that was used extensively throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance and that defined Aesop’s fables as we still think of them today.
The reader is perfect for anyone who has just finished learning Latin grammar. The fables are ordered from easiest to hardest so that students can acclimate gradually to Phaedrus's word order.
Vergilii Aeneidos Liber V
Vergilii Aeneidos Liber V
Vergilii Aeneidos Liber V
Vergilii Aeneidos Liber Quintus (Book Five of Vergil's Aeneid) contains is a student reader of selections from Book 5 of the Aeneid.Vergil is the most famous of the Roman poets and arguably one of the best poets to have written in any language. His largest work, the Aeneid, is an epic poem written in dactylic hexameter that tells of the hero Aeneas, the son of Venus and the mortal Anchises, and his flight from Troy to Italy with a group of Trojan refugees. This story held particular importance for the Romans of Vergil’s day, as they believed that the descendants of Aeneas and his companions had eventually founded the city of Rome.
This reader is suitable for advanced students who have learned all of Latin grammar. It comes with comprehension questions and lexical forms on the facing pages, and an extensive Latin-to-Latin dictionary in the back.
Metamorphoses Apuleii: Delira Aniculae
Metamorphoses Ovidii: Loci Septem Egregii
Metamorphoses Ovidii: Loci Septem Egregii
Metamorphoses Apuleii: Delira Aniculae (“The Ravings of a Little Old Woman”) is a Latin student edition of one major selection from Lucius
Apuleius Madaurensis’ Metamorphoses. The plot of the story itself is one of the most compelling and entertaining ever told, and Apuleius’ wild and excessive style makes it delightful for those who understand it. That said, Apuleius’ prose is among the most difficult to read. His vocabulary is extremely varied and seemed bizarre even to a contemporary Roman audience. What is more, his sentence structure, while beautifully rhetorical and powerful, does not easily present itself to the modern English mind. Therefore, while it is one of the most worthwhile reads from the ancient literature, it is a true challenge. Only very advanced students should even attempt it. A Latin-Latin dictionary is provided at the end for assistance with Apuleius’ difficult vocabulary.
Metamorphoses Ovidii: Loci Septem Egregii
Metamorphoses Ovidii: Loci Septem Egregii
Metamorphoses Ovidii: Loci Septem Egregii
Metamorphoses Ovidii: Loci Septem Egregii is a Latin student edition of selections from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (“Transformations”). Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C. – A.D. 17), known in English simply as Ovid, is one of the greatest of the Roman poets. His largest and most influential work, the Metamorphoses, which comprises 15 books and over 12,000 lines of dactylic hexameter poetry, is not only a veritable encyclopedia of classical mythology, but also a masterful epic poem that has had a profound impact on the Western literary tradition, including significant authors such as Dante, Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Shakespeare. Included are seven of the best and most beloved stories from the Metamorphoses: “Daphne et Apollo,” “Iuppiter et Io,” “Phaethon” (selections), “Echo et Narcissus,” “Pyramus et Thisbe,” “Latona,” and “Pygmalion.”