Augury Is for the Birds

Encounter Latin series information

Encounter the ancient Roman practice of augury, or bird divination—entirely in Latin!

Marcus, a young Roman boy, couldn’t care less about birds or their significance, even if they convey the divine will of Jupiter himself! He’d much rather train as a Roman soldier, just like his dad Titus. His dad, however, has other plans: he has arranged for Marcus to learn the ins and outs of interpreting bird signs from skilled augur Lucius. As Marcus finds, deciphering the gods’ plans for the future is hard enough—will he and his dad ever be able to come to an understanding about his own future?

Using fewer than 150 unique Latin words, this Encounter Latin novella introduces an important aspect of ancient Roman religion while exploring a multifaceted father-son relationship. Evocative illustrations and a variety of text supports make the story readily comprehensible to novice learners. An introduction by Dr. Robert Patrick, drawing on his decades of experience teaching Latin, explains the pedagogical underpinnings of the text and describes how novellas can be used to further language acquisition.

Special Features

• Original artwork


• Introduction describing ways to use novellas in the Latin classroom


• A Latin-to-English glossary listing all inflected forms used in the text along with standard dictionary entries


• An overview of repeated grammar structures with examples

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