Kyle:
I also began learning magic because of my then 6 year old son. A number of years later, I'm still here.
I think that every magician need to have two books: Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic and Scarne on Card Tricks.
Mark Wilson's book has a little bit of everything - cards, coins, bills, rope, cups & balls, mentalism, make-it-yourself and stage magic. It is a good way to get a basic understanding and to see what interests you and your son. As others know, my only criticism is that Mark teaches to point at the hand where something is supposed to be and to me that is actually drawing attention to the fact that you have just done a false take or put. There also is something to be gained by reading the entire book -- you get a strong sense of how different types of magic work. Pretty much every concept in magic is in there.
Scarne on Card Trick is a hugh collection of self-working card effects. Some decent, some good and some great. There are a lot of classics and great tricks in there such as Calling the Cards, the Upside Down Cards, Nomenclature, Do as I Do, Swimmers (a better version of Poker Player's Picnic in Royal Road), Hit the Deck (your son will love that one!) and The Betting Card Trick.
Another great book is Joshua Jay's Magic: The Complete Course. Where the effects in Mark Wilson's book are more classic, Joshua Jay's book is much more updated and uses modern props.
There are some great magic books for kids. Richard Kauffman's The Knack Magic Tricks is a great book. Richard is the editor of Genii Magazine and publisher of a number of amazing books. Joshua Jay's Big Magic for Little Hands is a great book too. Karl Fulves has a couple of books for kids - Easy to Do Magic Tricks for Kids and Easy to Do Card Tricks for Kids. I don't have either of those books, but I suspect they are like anything else by Karl Fulves - a lot of material with some great gems burried inside.
Once you get beyond general magic books, there are a number of paths you can take. There are magicians that want to focus on card tricks, those that want to focus on effects with every day objects, those that want to focus on coins, those that want to focus on classic props (sponge balls, linking rings, cups & balls, etc.), those that want to focus on mentalism, etc. So a couple of suggestions along those lines:
Card Tricks - Roberto Giobbi's Card College Light, Lighter and Lightest (routined self working effects) or Roberto Giobbi's Card College series - true sleight of hand with cards. The first two books are great to start with.
Visual Card Tricks and Everyday Objects - Paul Harris's Art of Astonishment series or (for more money and getting less effects) the True Astonishment DVD box set.
Coins - Eric Jones' Metal DVD and Bobo's Modern Coin Magic. Also check out the website coinvanish.com.
Classic Props - Beyond what is in Mark Wilson's book, L&L has the World's Greatest Magic series with great DVDs for the classics. For cups & balls (which can be done with ordinary cups, check out Michael Ammar's DVDs and for sponge balls, check out the Sponge Ball Toolbox DVD. Karl Fulves has a book on Self-Working Rope Magic.
Mentalism - Bob Cassidy's FundaMentals, Anneman's Practical Mental Magic and Fulves Self-Working Mental Magic.
My list of fun props you may want to consider (many of which may be great for your son):
- Thumb Tip (they also come in children's sizes)
- Invisible Deck
- Stripper Deck
- Svengali Deck
- Cheek to Cheek Deck
- One-Way Force Deck
- Thumb Tip Blendo
- Scotch and Soda (or Captain and Coke) Coin Set
Finally, your son may be better able to work with Bicycle Bridge Sized cards than the standard cards.
Good luck and enjoy.