Actually, just the other day I found Flash ActionScript (by Denise Etheridge) on the sale rack for $5 at Barnes and Noble...if you ask me, it's worth a lot more than that. I am not much of a programmer and just created a few draggable images as well as a scroll bar in no time at all. (I'm new to Flash as well). It has step-by-step tutorials that are pretty straight forward. You might see if you can find a copy. I am getting ready to move to Flash MX, but for now I am learning a lot from this book.
Hope this helps.