Hi Toothache
The book she's looking for could be \link {http://www.linkwordlanguages.com/italian.htm\this one}. I've had a look at the website (which is only a small demo) and it does look quite a painless way of learning a bit of the language quite quickly. Certainly this technique for learning vocabulary (visualising a 'memento' for each piece of new vocab) does work well. However, it will only teach you vocab, not much in the way of grammar. Judging by the demo, the grammar side is massively simplified. So, e.g., the demo says something along the lines of 'if an adjective is feminine, change the -o ending to an -a', but this only works in certain instances. So you can say (as they do on the demo) 'La rana e' rapida' (the frog is quick), but if you want to say (for some reason!) 'the frog is clever', then it would be 'la rana e' intelligente' (not 'intelligenta', as you might expect). However, the full course may explain things like this rather better - I've only had a quick look at the demo. Also, you'd need a tape or something to go with the book, because the technique they suggest will only give you a rough guide to pronounciation, not the 'proper' sound of the word (e.g. they suggest using the English word 'whisper' to remember the Italian word 'vespa' (wasp), which is pronounced as it's spelled - like the scooter of the same name - so, yes, something like 'whisper', but not identical by any stretch of the imagination).
All in all (and sorry for being so long-winded), this does look like a good technique for someone who wants to learn some basic Italian, in order to be able to have basic conversations, get more out of a holiday, etc. I don't think it would ever give you a full in-depth knowledge of the language, but, tbh, I don't really believe that any 'teach yourself' book can do that. My personal feeling is that, for that, you need a teacher.
I'm sorry, but I can't suggest any other books that might be good, because my teaching experience is all based around groups with a teacher following a very structured course.
Hope this helps, anyway.