Max Wainewright

I made sure to try every project in this book. There are quite a few mistakes. For example the instructions will say to “paint a new sprite” but the graphic to go with it shows “pick a new sprite”. That mistake is repeated every time they have that step. My next problem with this book is that it uses Scratch which is available free from MIT. It’s a very cool program, I just wish the cover said that you needed to use that program. Or reminded people that existing programs like Flash may need to run or be updated. I like the projects and think it is well set up, but it doesn’t really flow as a story, and I think the procedural part, while complete, and interesting, is way beyond what the cover makes someone think they are checking out. Plus, many of the elements they give the reader to do, don't seem like they work exactly right. For example you pick up the basket in the first project, by my character never picked up the basket, it walked past it. I'm an adult who can write code and I found it to be annoying, so I think it will be just as bad for kids. Overall, I like the concept, but the execution could be better.… (more)