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You are looking for a language that is sytatcially simple, yet powerful and extensible. Python meets this description. We use it to teach n00bs programming at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. MIT is designing a new course for beginning programmers that uses Python.
There is a wealth of learning materials and versions of the program you can download at www.python.org. This site also includes a rich array of tutorials and books that cater to all levels of proficiency from n00b to expert. Best of all.... its FREE! You can run python on all the major platforms. If you have a Mac or a Linux box, you probably already have it. Just open a terminal window and type "python". If you don't, python's modest demands can be accomodated even by a fairly old machine.
Python has an interactive feature you can "talk" to. This makes it easy for beginners to fiddle with and fun to explore. Python handles gigantic numbers with aplomb and opens the world of computing with huge numbers to users with all levels of skill and curiosity. Python has a huge array of extensions for programming with graphics and for scientific computing, so it's impossible to outgrow.
Happy Coding!
