As a portrait photographer who shoots a lot of children, clients often ask me for tips on taking better pictures of their kids. I have looked at many books, but have found How to Photograph Your Baby by Nick Kelsh to be one of the best. The book is spiral bound, simple, task-based, and has many excellent tricks. Highly recommended!
Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographswas possibly the book which most significantly changed the way that I think about light and the manner in which I shoot. Now in its 2nd edition, I consider this to be required reading.
Although out of print for more than 15 years, Tom Schroeppel's Bare Bones Camera Course is an inexpensive, concise and no-nonsense introduction to the camera and lenses. Written on a typewriter with hand-drawn line drawings, it is truly bare bones but absolutely useful. If you can find it, get a copy.
I have been using Smugmug for the image hosting at davidcox.org for several years. They are currently hosting more than 19,000 images for me (more than 30GB). Thankfully, they never make your guests sign in to look at pictures and you can try it for free. Referral code QbqGHByMpgqRM saves you $5.