I Spoke to Ted Nugent himself about this very question. He said make sure it' s mushy enough for the kid to pull easly, and second, have them shoot feathers since most youth bows use flipper type rest. He also told me Don' t use sights, and have them shoot fingers.
Now this was being applied to my 6 year old daugther who weighs less than 50 pounds and won' t be hunting for a while but this should apply for any beginer.
The 1st bow I got her was a $20 cheapy compound to make sure she was going to enjoy archery and so far she likes it.
Now for something closer to real bow I just picked up her Nov 12 birthday present. I got her a Mathews Genesis.

A Mathews genesis is around $150.00, dose not require a set draw length, and shoots from 10 to 20 lbs. But at 20 lbs it shoots like a 40 lb recurve.

This is a great training Bow not a hunting bow. I feel the kid has to like archery itself before they like archery hunting. I would be wary of something with heavy draw weight to start, if a kid has to struggle with drawing it takes alot of the fun out of it. Good luck with our new student. Jim