Good a good grasp of the language and problem solving aspects of C++ before attempting to work with graphics (C++ happens to be the premire language for writing game code)
A good book I used in college was called "Programming and Problem Solving With C++" by Dale, Deems, & Headington.
It was intended as a classroom text, but it is wriiten in a format that allows for self-paced learning without an instructor (as I proved this cause I rarely went to class, haha, ironic, I got a C in C++ ..HA!) anyway, it's a great book for you, if you can find it, check it out. It came with a copy of MS Visual C++, but I mostly used g++ for class.