I am planning on regrading my yard on one side of the house.  Currently, the ground slopes towards the house at a pretty good pitch.  Fortunately, there is enough exposed foundation on the house (stone w. mortar) to raise the ground level so that it pitches away.  I plan to raise the soil near the house to about 6 inches below the top of the foundation.  This would provide a gentle slope to help re-direct rainfall. The one complication is that there are three windows in the basement wall that now will need window wells. 

1)Is there a good book out there that would help me in this process? 

2)What is the best material to build the wells out of?  Would concrete bricks work well (no pun intended)? 

3)Should I plan some sort of drainage from the bottom of the wells? 

4)Are there any issues I am not considering?

Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks.