35 years ago, I learned with David Ahl's books. I knew nothing, but I could type in what was on the pages and make cool stuff happen on my computer. This engaged my interest and eventually I went on to learning 6502 assembler, register maps, etc, in a quest to do cooler and cooler stuff. I don't know if it would have happened without those books.

In trying to find something similar to pique my kids interest, I found Invent With Python to fill the bill, My kids can type it in, and cool things happen. There's a bit more structure than Basic Computer Games, in that it introduces different concepts in a more logical way, but it still captured the magic for my kids of making the computer do what they want. I'm a fan, and my kids still love to code. https://inventwithpython.com/