The chances are excellent that I'll think highly of a review copy if it comes from one of two publishers, Bolchazy-Carducci and Blackwell. Bolchazy-Carducci books tend to be for school-aged people and the self-taught (autodidacts), while the Blackwell books tend to be for college students and enthusiasts. The Bolchazy books are usually short, densely packed with accurate, thorough, easy-to-process information, and, where appropriate, funny. Another point in their favor is that they're usually well-made -- probably to withstand a lot of dropping on the floor by students overburdened with piles of books.
A Glossary of Terms in Grammar, Rhetoric, and Prosody
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
A Glossary of Terms in Grammar, Rhetoric, and Prosody for Readers of Greek and Latin: A Vade Mecum is mostly definitions. Presumably, Smith includes all terms you need to teach or study elementary or intermediate Latin and Greek, since those are the classes on which the book was tested. It is divided thematically into the three major sections of grammar, rhetoric, and prosody, plus introduction.
As the author says in his preface, although it was written for students and teachers of classics, many readers of the Times Literary Supplement could also profit from the book, since we don't routinely learn much formal grammar or rhetoric today.
Cicero A Legamus
Bolchazy-Carducci
Cicero A Legamus Transitional Reader, by Judith Sebesta and Mark Haynes, is a 2010 addition to the Latin transitional teaching tools from Bolchazy-Carducci. Like the volumes for Catullus, Horace, Ovid, and Vergil, it is designed as a bridge between beginning Latin and the reading of the actual Latin authors. Unlike the other four, this one is for prose, specifically Cicero's Pro Archia, in which the orator defends the defendant, Aulus Licinius Archias, against a charge of having obtained Roman citizenship illegally.
William J. Dominik's Words and Ideas
Bolchazy-Carducci
In Words and Ideas, editor William J. Dominik has created an introductory classical culture curriculum within the context of a vocabulary builder and beginning etymology textbook. Not only is Words and Ideas multipurpose in scope, but it is also suitable for a variety of learning situations, from autodidacts -- yes, you can sit down on your own with Words and Ideas -- to homeschooling parents to regular high school or college teachers.
An Introduction to Wall Inscriptions From Pompeii and Herculaneum
PriceGrabber
Rex E. Wallace shows the student of Latin how to decode Latin wall inscriptions and provides many examples of inscriptions from Pompeii and Herculaneum that were preserved when Mt. Vesuivus erupted in A.D. 79. The inscriptions that Wallace treats are the informal ones -- like ones defacing public spaces today -- signs whose topics range from political slogans to attempts at poetry, from illustrated gladiatorial announcements to illegible scrawl.
Latin for the New Millennium Level 3
This third year Latin textbook pairs grammatical information and exercises with well-selected passages from masters of the Latin language.Rose Williams' Once Upon the Tiber
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Rose Williams wrote Once Upon a Tiber with a specific audience in mind: students learning Latin who need a background in Roman history. To my mind, it is just as appropriate for students learning about Roman history, especially as a supplement to a series of context-limited readings-in-translation or textbooks. Instead of telling only such history as can be vouched for as historically accurate, Rose Williams reveals what the Romans wrote about themselves.
Rose Williams' Cicero the Patriot
Bolchazy-Carducci
An amusing anecdotal look at the life of one of Rome's most versatile late Republican figures, Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Rose Williams' The Labors of Aeneas - What A Pain It Was To Found The Roman Race
Bolchazy-Carducci
Knowing how to translate Latin is not enough to get you through the twelve book epic poem, The Aeneid, by Vergil (or Virgil) -- at least with any real understanding. Vergil was a master of the poetic medium in which he wrote. Obligated to glorify the current administration in dactylic hexameters almost guaranteed that two millennia later readers would have trouble understanding all the undercurrents. Modern readers need a well-informed teacher, familiarity with the relevant mythology and iconography -- if not the history of ancient Rome, or Rose William's The Labors of Aeneas.
Margaret A. Brucia and Gregory N. Daugherty's To Be a Roman Text and Workbook
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
To Be a Roman, by Margaret A. Brucia and Gregory N. Daugherty, is designed for young students, especially those beginning Latin, so that they will have the background for what they will soon be translating. It's better than that, though, since it provides a thorough overview of those aspects of Roman daily life that anyone would be interested in.
Marianthe Colakis and Mary Joan Masello's Classical Mythology and More A Reader
Bolchazy-Carducci
As its title suggests, Classical Mythology and More - A Reader Workbook is both a workbook and reader of the myths of ancient Greece and Rome. The workbook requires outside research and reasoning, and also supplies bits of lore and, occasionally, simple recipes. The reader is suitable for middle school students, but with some oversight, since it doesn't gloss over awkward or sexual topics.
