A great introduction to coding for kids. Step-by-step instructions with clear illustrations. Clear and well-written.

Coding from Scratch is a great introduction into Scratch programming. What I like about this book is the basic premise of getting kids involved in programming at young age using a free tool that is easy for beginners. It is targeted to ages 8-10, but I think that range could easily be expanded to include other kids as I think they would be interested in the activities in the book. This book walks the reader through games, animations, presentations, musical projects and Makey Makey projects. The book itself uses a kid-friendly design that details step-by-step directions for each project. The book also builds upon skills taught earlier in the book. It is a great book to reinforce ever-popular STEAM concepts.

I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not obligated to write a positive review.

Coding From Scratch is a very thorough, step-by-step guide for using Scratch to code. The book has clear illustrations, pictures, and diagrams to help readers navigate Scratch and develop their coding skills. It walks kids through how to make their own games, how to use the drawing tools to make animations, creating presentations, using the sound tools, and more! If you’re looking for a detailed guide to Scratch that dives in deep, then this is it!

This is a good introduction do Scratch coding. By way of explaining where I'm coming from, I'll say that I'm an adult with extensive coding experience in several languages but not Scratch. I usually teach college students, but I have an outreach program teaching STEM topics to 5th-8th graders, so I have wanted to learn Scratch for a while, and when I saw this book I grabbed the opportunity. [By the way, I recognized the logos on the cover and saw it for a Scratch book, and therefore was not at all surprised by the content, but I agree with the other reviewers that the publisher's blurb for this book really needs to be re-written by someone who's looked at the book. I can see how they got confused.]

So my overall review is that this is a useful, clear, well-written and well-conceived introduction for kids to the Scratch language. Bravo. I do really love it.

The first real unit is an introduction to coding in the guise of games -- a series of games of increasing complexity and interest. I did all of these gaming activities to force myself to get a clear read on the book, and they were great in general. These are exact recipes to follow step-by-step, and there's a little encouragement to change a few things at the end of each, but not much. I wish there were more encouragement to explore here. But the recipes are great.

The second is focused on drawing and animating, teaching the student to make great use of the visual tools rather than focusing on coding skills per se. It also includes two "presentations", or story activities, which are great but I would probably add quite a bit to them if I were teaching them.
The third unit is focused on sound and incorporating sound, including a section on Makey Makeys, which is a fun little sound toy.
I did some but not all of the activities in these two units. They were well-written and encourage exploration in addition to the clear instructions.

At the end of each activity, Ziter has a link to an online version of the activity in her Scratch account, and the kids can see the code there, in case anything at all is unclear (unlikely, but it's nice to have that resource).

I think the age range quoted on the back cover, 8-10, is far too narrow. I think something more like 8-14 would be appropriate, because these activities can really be built upon. I can see that this language, the online interface, and the activities in this book would be very useful to me in engaging kids with coding. My greatest criticism of the language and interface (not the book) was that blocks of code cannot be copied and pasted, which I found maddening. Argh. But there's a lot of good things. Primarily, it in constructed to nearly eliminate typos, which is the primary source of frustration for beginning coders, so it's very easy to use.

I would strongly recommend the print version of the book, because there are facing-page explanations of code that would be good to have laid flat (I had an electronic version, which was less effective).

There are a lot of Scratch coding books out there, and since this is the only I've really read carefully, I can't comment on comparing it to the others, but I can say it's a very good one. I'd recommend it to anyone teaching coding to kids. It's very clear, the activities are great, and it can be expanded upon. Good stuff.

And now for some very persnickety notes that will only interest me as I'm teaching with this or maybe others in my same situation (just notes):

Problems with “Ping Pong”, the last and most complicated game in the first unit:
1) One word in 80 pages of instructions that isn’t clear. That’s pretty good. but on page 72, the term “broadcast block” is not clear. Should probably be “button sprites”, unless I’m mistaken.
2) in the online version of ping pong, the medium sprite has an inconsistent code block. It doesn’t change the functionality of the game, but it might be confusing to kids.
3) breaks physics, since it doesn’t bounce correctly. Perhaps this is to add some difficulty to the game, but it’s not something I as a physics teacher would do. There is a perfectly good pre-made bounce routine to use — this would actually make the code one mite simpler. Also, there’s no gravity, which admittedly would be more difficult to add in. That means that the ball can get stuck in a near-horizontal trajectory bouncing from side to side. Annoying, and not physical, but it doesn’t make the game useless. Kids can just stop and restart the game if that happens.


In “Tempo Bounce”, in the third unit, there is a condition for making sound if the tempo >10 and also if the tempo<10, but not = 10, so if the user sets it equal to 10 (likely since there’s mention of 10 in the code, and it’s on the students’ minds), it doesn’t make sound, so it seems like it’s not working. Just something to keep an eye on. Or add a code block for.

"Soundboard" should probably have some suggestions on how to use it — what do I do with a sound board? Can record a story as a podcast, etc.


I got a copy to review from the publisher through Net Galley.

My daughter loved this book and found it super useful! She loves learning and loves computers so this was the perfect book for her!

I am a firm believer that teaching kids how to code should be an essential part of any curriculum but I have to be honest and say that I have mixed feelings about this book. Like other reviewers, I was surprised when I opened the book as I was expecting a beginner book on coding but not specifically using Scratch (the NetGalley description does not specify this either).

The guidance in itself on how to use Scratch and build projects is great and easy to follow. I really enjoyed how it builds everything up slowly but not so slowly that it gets boring. I think it would be ideal for kids between the ages of around 8 and 12 to get them thinking about coding and how all the 'blocks' fit together, and how they can be manipulated to produce different results.

That being said, I have a few issues with this book. Firstly, the book recommends sound files from another website, but I could not see any warnings such as "Check with a parent/guardian/teacher first!". Although I am sure the website is fine, it's really easy to download the wrong thing and the next thing you know you've got malware/spyware on your PC.

Secondly, there is a task that requires buying extra equipment, which I would not expect to see in a book of this nature. I would expect all of the tasks to be able to be completed with just the book and a PC.

Lastly, I am not sure I would encourage my child to learn how to code in a system that relies on using Adobe Flash Player to run (as AFP is becoming obsolete in 2020). This is not a reflection of the book per se, but it would influence my decision-making process when deciding whether to purchase the book.

As a guide for using Scratch and introducing kids to the world of coding I think it's great, but if I were buying this book for a child I'd probably be a bit cautious about some of the content.

The title for this is rather deceptive - It can easily be taken the wrong way just as I did - I thought it meant from scratch as in from the start/beginning but once I began to read it I realised that "Scratch" is actually the name of a coding programme. You need to have access to Scratch in order for this book to be useful - it talks you through how to create an account and teaches you how to code in it.

"Coding from Scratch" is informational and easy-to-follow. There are step-by-step instructions which make coding simple and fun for kids and adults. It is a great introduction to the basic concepts that underpin the process of writing code.

Many thanks to Capstone for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I have many students who are familiar with Scratch coding, and I think this book is useful for beginners and more experienced users as well. I requested the ARC of this book from NetGalley in an attempt to become more knowledgeable about Scratch myself, and I found it very user-friendly and helpful in that it started “from scratch”, or the very beginning steps of creating a user account and getting to know the different tools. While a more experienced user could easily skip this portion of the book, once it delved into different creative projects, I like how it had students think about the different creative components of each one before explaining the steps to make it happen. This book is great for hesitant users who don’t know where to begin, and also for those who are looking for different ways to explore Scratch coding.

This guidebook would be ideal for teaching a class of basic coding in a class setting. It is sequential in nature starting off with basic descriptions of actions to code and moving through different projects that can be completed. Access to a "scratch" account is required for this book to be useful, Process and illustrations seemed well thought out and accessible for the target age group.

This is a book on Coding with Scratch, the free online coding platform/language from MIT and not a general introduction to coding. As I'm supporting Scratch learners, this book would make a useful addition to my approaches. Many of the projects will fit neatly into shorter timeframes in Makerspaces (e.g. as lunchtime activities) and I like the inclusion of some projects that tie to physical computing technologies like the section on Makey Makey. I will definitely be trying some of these projects with the newer students in my Code Clubs. The layout and simple explanations are perfect for some of our younger Code Club members, and also children with learning challenges who work best with instructional materials with bright visuals and specific guidance on where icons.are on screen.

This book is perfect for kids not too young because it gave a vaste array of opportunity to use scratch and making the best out of it. I would have loved if it was written in one of the languages that my son speaks.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

Coding from Scratch could be a confusing title. When I first started this book I thought that it was a book to teach you how to code from the beginning, However, this book is about learning how to code from a program called Scratch. It walks you through creating a scratch account and learning to code in the program. I feel that this book was very informational and made learning how to code fun and easy. It gave detailed step by step instructions and made coding easy to understand and do yourself.Great book to learn when wanting to learn how to work from scratch and learning to write code.

A great book to get started with in Coding. It is easy to follow and full of information. I liked the flow of the book and both my kids enjoyed it.

Title can be deceptive if you aren't familiar with the program Scratch. But if you are this is an excellent resource for users in need of a manual. The projects are fun and the instructions are thorough. I did the race game with my kids and they were really engaged from start to finish.

Coding from Scratch is a book about using Scratch to code. I had used this once as part of a class I was auditing and it was a lot of fun, although I kind of got stumped at one point and gave it up, so I was curious to check out this book to see if it would give me some more information so maybe I could play around a bit more. If you're unaware, Scratch is an online coding platform that uses colorful coding blocks to create. Rather than actually writing the code out in text, you move what look almost like colorful puzzle pieces around to build loops and actions quickly and easily. You can sign up for an account at www.scratch.mit.edu. The first parts of the book go over how to create and set up your account and what all the tools mean and do. You can then make your own games pretty easily. The book also notes some components that you should think about before you start like - where does your game take place? What are the rules for what you can and can't do? There are also some examples you can copy to re-make some games so that you can get a feel for how everything works before you dive in and do you own games.

I found Scratch to be a lot of fun to play around with and I think that this book is a really great guide to help you if you want to get started learning to code or even if your child does. It can be basic at times, but you can get really complicated and really cool with it as well which I think is great!

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.