Designing Jewelry with Semiprecious Beads by Kim Gover is a new release from Interweave Publishing. It's primarily a stringing book, and like the title says, with semiprecious beads.
This is hands down my favorite stringing book to come out in a long time. There are a lot of good ones that have come out in the last few years, but this one is the one I'd teach my daughter the basics of stringing from if I hadn't already taught her, and it is the one I'll let her use as a reference book.
It's primarily for beginners, and the bright colors and easy to read text make it fun and easy to follow, the first couple of chapters are the reason I love this so much for learning stringing. The introduction to the tools is pretty short, but don't worry, at the end of the book is a basic techniques section that covers techniques very well with photographs. The next section is about how to buy semiprecious beads, and it's a great resource for learning how and where to buy them. The 24 pages following that are descriptions and photos of semiprecious beads, 3 to a page, organized by color. It's a fantastic resource.
After that, the projects. They are well laid out with good color diagrams. They are simple, but elegant in design and execution and wouldn't be at all threatening to a beginner. Most of them could be completed in an evening or less.The balance and color of the projects make them very wearable, and there are some lovely quick earrings I'm looking forward to making myself.
If you're an advanced beader, this may make a good gift to someone you know who wants to learn the basics of stringing, or a good supplement on your own shelf just for that 24 page stone guide. If you're a beginner to stringing, it's a wonderful book to have.