Hi,

I got the learning Maya 7 foundation book back when it was relevant and found it very useful.

It covered poly and NURBS modelling, texturing, basic character rigging and animation along with a few other bits and bobs all based around an award winning animation... blue robot or something.

I rekon the current version will cover pretty much the same things updated for the latest release of Maya so it'll probably be a good device for learning.

Hope that helps and have fun over the summer,

Mat.