Reddit reviews The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques, Fifth Edition
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Used Book in Good Condition
The staple around our studio was the potters dictionary of materials and techniques. https://www.amazon.com/Potters-Dictionary-Materials-Techniques-Fifth/dp/0812238109
Some good recipes for clays and glazes by temperature:
http://www.alfredgrindingroom.com/recipes/
If you want a clay body that fires pure white and has good hand building properties you will probably have to mix your own. Honestly, just google clay recipes, there is no shortage of resources out there these days. For a good hand building body, make sure your recipe has some sort of grog or fiber in it like mulched paper or even straw and the like. This is going to help give strength as the clay body itself will most likely be super soft because you want a pure white color.
I find pre-mixed clays usually fire more of a buff /off white color, as pure white clays tend to not be great for hand building. It is the nature of kaolinite (the main ingredient of porcelain and the reason your clay is white) to be difficult. To sum up very vaguely and over-simplified, kaolinite cleaves too perfectly and is too uniform to be a great hand buildding clay body. It's why it's wonderful for throwing, very soft and maleable.
Look into glaze calculation resources. It will help you understand the nature of each ingredient. You have some ingredients that act as a flux (e.g. frit makes things more runny, calcium makes it less runny), some for color, some for strength, etc. Once you understand the broader principles you can make a better clay mixture to suit your needs.
That is far from the only reason why a a ceramic piece would crack. This book has 9 pages on different kinds of cracks and the reasons why they happen.