i was thinking the exact same thing. the beginner project is a really nice booster and is easier to build due to it being designed with first time builders in mind.
the important thing is to help you to avoid headaches and frustration with your first build. you could easily incorporate a tone control into it with a little help and a little understanding. its a well respected booster and has been built by many as a first build. while you could just wire a tone pot with a cap up, and bypass it with a 3pdt footswitch and a led / resistor, the results may or may not act how you want depending on what you plug into it and what you plug it into. for reasons that arent obvious, passive circuits can behave very differently with different gear, which is a design consideration of all active effects.
these 'considerations' help to avoid tone sucking, noise, bass loss etc... which you may encounter with passive circuits (no power)...
anyway, i'd say do the beginner project. you can use it to push your amp, or other effects, as a solo boost its a usefull circuit, and you could always add a tone pot to it and make it into a tone pedal in addition to a boost...
