Scratch Programming for Beginners by Raina Burditt MS MA

Scratch Programming for Beginners by Raina Burditt MS MA ISBN-13: 978-1647396381 Paperback: 188 pages Publisher: Rockridge Press Released: September 1, 2020

Source: Review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Fun guide to Scratch programming for ages 8-12. Scratch is a visual computer language designed especially for kids, and Scratch Programming for Beginners is the perfect book to introduce kids to coding! It explains the fundamental concepts of Scratch in a kid-friendly way, and comes jam-packed with fun, creative activities.

This book starts with the scratch programming basics, teaching kids what coding is, and all about the different tools they can use to build their own programs and games. Each chapter teaches a different aspect of coding, with exercises that get more challenging as they go, so kids can test their abilities and unleash their imagination. They’ll even build their own game where they’ll fight off a fire-breathing dragon!

This book is designed for coding beginners, with kid-friendly explanations, step-by-step instructions, and lots of pictures. Kids will build their own toolbox of skills, learning how to install and use Scratch, how to troubleshoot any pesky coding bugs with the Bug-Hunting Guide, and practice their Scratch programming lingo with a glossary of computer terms. Scratch uses blocks of code that fit together like puzzle pieces, so kids can watch how their code affects the program as they’re building it. The fundamentals they’ll learn in this book apply to other coding languages, too!


My Review:
Scratch Programming for Beginners teaches the process of coding, specifically how to code in Scratch. It's targeted at ages 8 through 12 and should be easily understood by them, but it's also useful for adults who want to learn the basic concepts of coding. The author did a good job of showing how to think through what needs to be in the code and identifying potential bugs based on understanding how a computer reads code. She taught how to get set up with Scratch and how to use the different coding blocks as well as setting up the stage, getting sprites and sound, etc. For each section, she explained what the code did and then showed step-by-step how to use it by showing the process of coding a simple animation or game. She then provided several more advanced projects as well as suggested some changes that the reader might try by themselves. By the end, I felt fully confident in using Scratch to create my own unique projects, though obviously there will still be some trial and error. Overall, I'd highly recommend this book.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.