Whats a good choice for 'first book' for a young child learning to read?

Well, if you can find them, try the "Dick and Jane" books, and the ones that follow them, ("Times And Places", etc.) from Simon & Shuster.  Those were the books I learnt to read from......er, from which I learnt to read!  Books that have accompanying CDs or cassettes are good, too -- your child can hear the words as he or she reads them!  After they get a LITTLE more advanced, the "Little Golden Books" or similar volumes are good.  Get books with topics in which your child has an interest: if they like to read about princes and princesses, they'll more likely read books about fairy-tale, (or real!) royalty, than they would, say, about diffe3rent bird species.....or vice versa!  Children are also especially interested in books their parents used when they were learning to read.   Of course, I'd also go to the public library, and ask the librarians and library assistants there if they could recommend any books.  Many libraries have special programs, just for beginning readers!  (And don't be surprised if, surrounded by parental interest, and books that interest them, that your children advance rapidly in their reading material!)  Good Luck!

P.S.:  I just asked my cousin, who is a library assistant, what she thinks would be good.  She mentioned "Fierce John", which is a funny book about a boy who pretends he's a lion, and also the Dr. Seuss books -- which teach rhyming, as well as reading.  She also mentioned the "Easy Reader" section of the children's library.

There is a section in my small yet well stocked Library, that has books for beginners.  Also, you may want to check your Library and see if they have Reader's who come in on Saturday mornings and read to the children.  The children can follow them through the stories in a booked loaned to them during the reading.  Usually the books are quite simple.  My son enjoyed the Golden Books and learned reading at a very young age.  I cling to the idea that the Golden Books are the very best for young children.  Good luck and God bless.

There's a book entitled Family Literacy: Young Children Learning to Read and Write by Denny Taylor at Amazon.