The essay "Computer languages for kids" at
http://gasstationwithoutpumps.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/computer-languages-for-kids/ may interest you.
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"If I were starting from the beginning with a kid who had no previous programming experience, I�d start with Scratch, then segue to Python, and from there to C and C++. If the kid wanted to take the AP Computer Science Exam or create web applets, a detour through Java would be useful. If the kid wanted practical skills, HTML and JavaScript are worth adding, as there is still a large demand for web developers, even young ones. Alice might be useful as a transition to Java, but it has too much focus on data structures to be a really friendly intro. Neither the Logo nor the LISP dialects appeal to me much as programming languages or teaching languages: they seem more designed for theoretical elegance than for producing readable programs."
