When I teach basic piecing, I generally get one of the Eleanor Burns books. She does a great job of illustrating and describing methods. Also, I love the Quilters Ultimate Visual Guide. See it here
http://www.amazon.com/Quilters-Ultim...6558451&sr=1-1 It gives very good descriptions of all types of quilting and is one I loan out to beginning quilters to get them acquainted with different styles of quilting.