Sitepoint is offering a PDF e-book of jQuery: Novice to Ninja, normally $29.95, as a free download for 24 hours, as part of a Soccer World Cup promotion in which they assigned a particular book to each finalist nation.
The book is retrieved by entering an email address into their web form, then clicking a download link in an email. No other registration is necessary.
The book can also be ordered from Sitepoint in hardcover for $39.95.
Free jQuery & UI ebook:
http://www.heronote.com/files/jquery.htm
Free jQuery & jQuery UI ebook:
http://www.heronote.com/files/jquery.htm
The author goes step by step in each example, providing screenshot for each next step and source code you can simply run by copy/paste and see what happens. I must say that besides the practical examples for a cookbook, you will find that there is enough theoretical explanation for the provided recipes, which will make you follow the entire book chapters and recipes easily even if you are complete beginner with jQuery.