Elementary-aged readers who have mastered the basics of coding in Scratch and want to go further by learning to make music are guided by a colorful cartoon boy wizard sprite (a two-dimensional bitmap character) in this title in the Project Code series. Readers are introduced to the five main elements of music (pitch, melody, harmony, rhythm, and tone). After downloading the book's online materials, readers can follow along with the text's instructions, which correspond to digital Scratch files. Lessons progress from learning individual notes, repeat loops, and subroutines, to multitasking, sending messages, and composing with chords. The book explains what a computer bug is and encourages young coders to repeatedly test-repair-test until they get it right. The answers to questions posed to the reader are found in the back, along with a glossary, index, and further reading. The engaging text, accompanied by bright illustrations and ready-made blocks of code, is useful in helping young coders compose their own music projects.

These books include hands-on tutorials, available for download, to develop basic Scratch coding skills needed to create stories, animation, games, and music. Readers learn about underlying concepts such as binary instructions, loops, and repeats, and are encouraged to go beyond directives for deeper understanding. Accessible descriptions, short sections, and an appealing graphic layout recommend this series for self-guided learning. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.