Chet Raymo's An Intimate Look at the Night Sky contains beautiful and realistic maps of the skies by season, and can be used, with a little adjustment, anywhere in the northern hemisphere, but is especially useful for those living in the northern U.S. and southern Canada. Raymo is professor emeritus at Stonehill College in Massachusetts, and An Intimate Look is precisely that: an astronomy teacher's loving gift to his students.
There's something about astronomy and astronomers that inspires them to write beautiful, poetic prose, and Raymo, through judicious use of quotes from the great poets (Rilke and Blake feature prominently), the great naturalists (for what are the starry reaches but nature writ very, very large?), and his own passion, has made a beautiful introduction to the skies at night. What we get is the journal of a seeker and "a glimpse of that incredible experiment, a few notes of the symphony of the continuing creation." Where other writers often shrug and seem to say, Who knows?, when it comes to the numinous sensation of gazing into the depths of the night, Raymo works that soulful sensation for all it's worth. Beauty is truth, indeed, and builds strong souls in at least 12 ways. Look up! You're home.