In Italiano: Italian for Beginners Illustrated

It doesn't really matter how many books you read if you want fluency. Whether you choose an 'easy Italian reader', 'short stories in Italian', or any book in Italian, you must master one hundred percent of the words you're reading. Read ad nauseum, then move onto another title. If you keep jumping from book to book by getting a little out of it, you're wasting time and learning nothing. Any book works just fine, stick to it. Here's the kick, comics are actually best, and shouldn't be dismissed as juvenile reading; you can't beat pictures and simple dialogue. And I wrote quite a few of them.
This book has plenty of words and parallel text in Italian and English. Each chapter has a picture and a story where words are repeated. Words are shades of meaning, so read and repeat. It will take you several months to master new words. Don't jump all over the place. Just because you understood ten percent of the story, it won't do any good other than boost your ego. Be efficient. Most important, read the language people actually speak, and not outdated gibberish, unless you want to sound like a refugee. Ciao!

P.S. Pay particular attention to the table of contents for recall. It's there for a reason. Use daily.