er, the Southern Cross is a common name....its a constellation by the way. Just look at any Australian (or New Zealand) flag and you'll see it. This time of year is not the best time to see it in the evening, however, its a bit low in the sky.
As for books -
any good book store will hold a few titles in astronomy and all you have to do is look in the popular science section and there should be several titles to choose from. Pick one (or two) that speaks to you and go from there. More than likely you'll end up with several. And don't forget to look out for the annual publication "Astronomy 2009" which will give you everything that's moving in the sky for the year (moon and planets) as well as some basic sky stuff.
For the cheap option, I always recommend the local public library. Astronomy is under Dewey number 520.
