I got into programming in the 6th grade via "Interplay's Learn to Program: BASIC." It was a little corny (there's a host that cracks lame jokes), but it totally

I got into programming in the 6th grade via "Interplay's Learn to Program: BASIC." It was a little corny (there's a host that cracks lame jokes), but it totally changed the way I thought about video games and programming. At any rate, I'd say that if you can find a "game"-like presentation for any programming language, that would be the way to go instead of a book.