I've been quilting for awhile but recently (on the board) someone mentioned Harriet Hargrave's 4 books, "Quilter's Academy" Vol.1, 2, 3, and 4. Volume 1 starts out with the basics and each book after that expands on the things you learned in the previous volumes. They are excellent for explaining things and have several quilts in each book that a beginner/novie can make.
I'm also a fan of Eleanore Burn's books and videos for beginners. She gives great instructions.
The first block that I made was the Ohio Star and I can remember how proud I was of that block. I think I love the block simply because it was the first one that I made and it looked great. :-)
Another good book is Fon's and Porter's "Quilter's Complete Guide". My edition is one of the first editions and I noticed that they now have a new (different) cover on the book but I imagine that the information inside the book is the same.