I have used several different books on chess to teach my son who is 9 years. Yasser Seriwan's books on chess are really good as they teach beyond basics with not to much technical nonsense. Silman's are also fine.

Anyone have any experience with the Step Method books?

http://www.chess-steps.com/

I really like Seirawan's books Play Winning Chess, Winning Chess Brilliancies, Winning Chess Strategies, and Winning Chess Tactics.  I also think that Best Lessons of a Chess Coach is quite good.

Hi

I teach 10 – 12 kids once a week at the local club including two of my own (7 and 9 years). I recently got Fred Wilsons Simple Attacking plans and I can recommend it with some reservations. It is not a complete program or something but it has some instructive games and good explanations. It is aimed at Kids who in Wilsons words “are beginning to understand that a game of chess is not just random tactic” (not exact quote since I don’t have the book here). The ambition is to teach Kids four main principiles in attacking chess:

Attack f2/f7 in the opening if justified.
When attacking the enemy King bring as many attackers as possiple.
When attacking the castled King go for h2/h7 often combined with getting rid of the defending Knight.
When the enemy King gets stuck in the center do all you can to open up lines and especially to dominate the e-file. 

The book starts out very good with nice illustrative games some between Kids. But too quickly too many games are between masters and of a kind the Kids cannot relate to (not often these Kids meet 12 moves of theory in the caro or something). Anyway, this is what I have found, but it is not a major problem since you as a teacher will put together your own program anyway and can use the book as a supplement. Maybe those mastergames will come in handy later.

I have used the book to teach the two first principles and just as important to teach the beginners how to avoid getting mated on f7 quickly and to remember keeping some defenders near the King.

I find the book a nice supplement to tactical training because it introduces the Kids to the idea that you do not have to wait for those briliant tactics to come out of the blue – you can put pressure on your opponent and force mistakes and tactical possibilities.

Anyway, many of the games are like I said fun and instructive – my 7 year old have already memorized 3 and no doubt working with the principles helped him win the beginers group at the latest tournament we went to (brag, brag, brag).

Also, if you are looking for internet resources as well, Chess Tempo is a fabulous site that serves you tactics problems appropriate to your rating. I know of other kids who have enjoyed it a lot.

The Alburt and Pelts "Comprehensive Chess Course" is something I used to use.