I'd recommend these books, in roughly this order:

TEACH YOURSELF CHESS (Bill Hartston)
WINNING CHESS TACTICS (Yasser Seirawan)
WINNING CHESS STRATEGIES (Yasser Seirawan)
CHESS: THE ART OF LOGICAL THINKING: FROM THE FIRST MOVE TO THE LAST
(Neil McDonald)
TEACH YOURSELF BETTER CHESS (Bill Hartston)
HOW TO REASSESS YOUR CHESS (Jeremy Silman)
ESSENTIAL CHESS ENDINGS (James Howell)

Also check out Dan Heisman's webpage and read his Novice Nook articles:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/danhei...Nook_Links.htm

Also, if you find yourself in a Barnes and Noble near the bargain bin,
look for:
CHESS: TACTICS AND STRATEGIES (Graham Burgess)
It's a nice encycloppedia-like work, fun for browsing, and very cheap.
:-)