Top of my list to recommend to anyone is a Japanese series called Yotsuba&!
It's a little difficult to describe without sounding banal, because the plots of the stories are the least important thing about it. Yotsuba is a little girl who lives with her father. I think she's supposed to be about five or six. The series follows her about as she makes her way in the world, not always quite understanding what's going on. It's pure slice of life, but often hilarious, with a great cast of characters. The 240 page paperbacks are beautifully drawn, and the stories told at a leisurely pace, so that each volume may only include three actual stories, and those stories might be 'Yotsuba goes for a ride on her bicycle', or 'Yotsuba visits a farm and meets a cow', but you enjoy every page of them.
The same writer/artist, Kiyohiko Azuma was previously responsible for the school humour strip Azumanga Diaoh, which is also excellent, but more bitty, as it's largely constructed from four panel gag strips, interspersed with longer stories.
