Good learner book for a 12 year old?
If your brother plays any PC games, you might check to see if any of them are moddable.  Many games these days come with scripted campaign editors or have python scripts underlying them that you can modify.  They are a great way to get involved with the basic concepts behind programming, as your brother can get pretty immediate feedback in an environment that's already very interesting to him.
It may not be 'programming' per se, but it's an exercise in instructing the computer to do what you want, which requires a clear intention and some work and investigation to actually achieve what you've intended.  If he develops that mindset, then more general programming in a more complex environment follows naturally.
My 12 year old brother has recently expressed an interest in learning to program. I of course think this is a great idea, why not start him early? I'm wondering what you guys think with regards a book? I was thinking I should start him off on Java but I'm unsure what book would be best? Any suggestions with regards a book or even another language would be much appreciated.
UPDATE: I've went with Python and I'm starting him off with "Snake wrangling for kids".