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Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope–and How to Find Them
http://www.amazon.com/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundred-Telescope/dp/0521781906

Some general space knowledge books:
1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the Universe
http://www.amazon.com/Things-Everyone-Should-About-Universe/dp/0385483864

and these are real helpful starting out:
Stars (A Golden Guide from St. Martin’s Press)
http://tinyurl.com/2coc699

and
Planets (A Golden Guide from St. Martin’s Press)
http://tinyurl.com/2fux82h

The latter two are inexpensive and smaller in size (fits in a pocket).

Recommendations:
Turn Left at Orion – very good book for getting started.
The Stars; a New Way to See Them (by H.A. Rey) – also very good, sort of aimed at kids, but adults will benefit as well.
Peterson Field Guide to Stars and Planets – Great for when you start pushing your abilities and looking for ever-fainter galaxies or smaller and smaller clusters.
Sky & Telescope’s Pocket Sky Atlas

Be sure to get at least one decent planetarium program (Stellarium and Celestia are both free downloads, there are others available as well)

A water-resistant planisphere will be very helpful (especially for the first year or two) for getting oriented with the sky quickly.

Clear Skies!

All the books that I have on the topic are old. You may have to find out if they have newer editions.

However, the stuff is still valid.

The Guide to Amateur Astronomy
by Jack Newton and Philip Teece, 1994 (2nd edition)

It tires to explain how telescopes work, how to read star maps, how to "star hop" (finding a bright star, then move from fainter star to fainter star until you find your target).

It takes you through some interesting objects for each season (e.g., the Autumn sky).

I also have

Astronomy with a Small Telescope
by James Muirden, 1985

A little more explanations but a little less of actually showing you how to do it.

You might also be interested in books on very specific types of objects, while still at the beginner’s level. Something like:

A Starhopper’s Guide to Messier Objects
by Lenore Freeman.

Charles Messier was a comet hunter during the 18th century. He compiled a catalog of a little over 100 objects that are interesting (he did it for a different purpose, but that is beside the point).

The list contains star clusters, nebulae and galaxies. All are visible in an 8-inch telescope (although some are a bit of a challenge).

The book helps you find them using the star-hop method.

—

If you have access to a public library (at a high-school or college level is better) and if the library uses the "Library of Congress" classification system, then look around
QB64
(Q is science, B is astronomy, and 64 is for all the general guidebooks)
Specific project books would be found in QB65

You may have to spend some time reading the intros, as there are many levels of intro books: Webb Society’s Deep-Sky Observer’s Handbooks, for example, are also in QB64 but you should wait a few years before tackling them. (They are mostly designed for photographic work or for larger telescopes).

I don’t have a good book for you but i do have an awesome website for you that you can print out before you go try both http://www.heavens-above.com and the Sydney observatory site and that way its free

I strongly recommend Turn Left at Orion (which not only shows you how to find various things in the sky but also includes sketches of what you should expect to see) and The Stars by H A Rey (which is the book that got me interested in astronomy in the first place).

Just don’t go to your scope expecting to see the brightly coloured spectacular images you see in magazines. Your eye just can’t pick those out.