Silly Greek text books...

[Aletheia]

So in my preposition thread, someone referenced a book that has cartoons of a man with a lion illustrating the various greek prepositions.

Are there "textbooks" out there that are like that? Are there textbooks that not only present the material, but seem to also give a hoot in helping you try to choke down the memorization? Colorful ones with silly pictures? Enclosed CD's with the greek alphabet sung to the tune of "mama's little baby loves shortbread, shortbread..." (try it- it works!) Ones with crossword puzzles and word games?

Yes, it's a tall order. But if I am missing something like that, please let me know now before I try to stick another greek preposition into (eis?) my head through (dia?) my ear by means of (really just a genitive?) a wooden spoon handle.

GAH.

[Damoetas]

Found it! http://www.biblicalgreek.org/grammar/#prepositions This page, in the "Prepositions" section, has links to two different sites with cartoons. The first one is the "Adventure with the Lion" I was thinking of; the second one shows both the standard "circle" chart, and a cartoon with mice crawling all over a hunk of cheese.

I'm not sure what books have things like this on a more extensive scale; perhaps other people have suggestions....

EDIT: PS:

by means of (really just a genitive?) a wooden spoon handle

You must mean dative; but yes, the dative alone expresses the "instrument" or "means" (i.e. an object) by which something is done.

[Aletheia]

Apparently I need to take the wooden spoon to the case usage chapter again, too.

Thanks for the link.

[NathanSmith]

Are there "textbooks" out there that are like that? Are there textbooks that not only present the material, but seem to also give a hoot in helping you try to choke down the memorization? Colorful ones with silly pictures?

Storys' Greek To Me (published by Xulon) is a textbook and set of flashcards which are just that: "Learning New Testament Greek Through Memory Visualization". I still remember a lot of the images on the cards when I think of Greek words.

[Prometheus]

One such "silly Greek textbook" is called Learn Ancient Greek: A Lively Introduction to Reading the Language, by Peter Jones (Barnes and Noble, New York 1998 ISBN 0-7607-3978-1). It sports Playboy-style black-and-white cartoons (the naked Europa, riding a bull, asks "How do I know you're Zeus?"), along with light-hearted introductions to subjects like Homer's epics and Aristophanes' comedies. From a language standpoint, it starts by teaching the alphabet in chunks, rather than all at once (a stunningly obvious innovation) and giving practice reading familiar Greek names, hands you some New Testament quotes (probably the easiest Greek for the average student) to chew on, and takes you as far as the passive, imperfect, participles, and the aorist--not giving you enough practice to really master them (but that's a common failing of classical Greek textbooks), but at least making the basic topics digestible and not hiding behind abstruse academic jargon.