It might be of interest to look at the table of contents of A COMPLETE CHESS COURSE by Antonio Gude: "... 3 Openings and Basic Principles 33 ... 4 Putting Your Pieces to Work 52 ... 5 Strategy and Tactics 76 ... 6 Endgame Play and Further Openings 106 … 7 Combinations and Tactical Themes 128 ... 8 Attacking Play 163 ... 9 Your First Opening Repertoire 194 …"
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/A_Complete_Chess_Course.pdf
Chess books for beginners
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That book by Gude looks pretty good. There's a longer excerpt on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Chess-Course-Antonio-Gude/dp/1910093645
If you're open to buying a couple of books, I was thinking a combination of Winning Chess by Chernev & Reinfeld (a great beginning tactics book) and A First Book of Morphy by Frisco del Rosario (a lot can be learned from Morphy's games when starting out) would get him headed in the right direction.
https://www.amazon.com/WINNING-CHESS-Irving-Chernev/dp/1501117580/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1576883079&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/First-Book-Morphy-Frisco-Rosario/dp/1412039061
https://www.chess.com/blog/Chessmo/review-a-first-book-of-morphy
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
"Remember, if you like books--like reading them and owning them--there's no such thing as 'one chess book.' ... as you acquire one or two and read them through--even if you don't--you'll find yourself drawn to the chess section every time you walk into Walden's or Barnes and Noble or Borders. If you leaf through the books and compare their contents to what you need, you'll soon find yourself dedicating a shelf or two of your bookcase to chess books. You'll want to have all of Sierawan's books (as soon as they're back in print). You'll yearn to complete your collection of Alburt's series. You'll start haunting used book shops for old copies of Fischer's 'My 60 Memorable Games.' Your hair will gradually grow unkempt, and a distracted wild look will creep into your eyes. If you're separated from your books for too long, your hands will begin to twitch and you'll start plotting knight moves across the checkered tablecloth at the Italian restaurant where you're supposed to be wooing your wife / girlfriend. You've entered a perilous zone ... 'Chessbibliomania' is not a condition to be easily dismissed, and research has shown it isn't curable. Maybe you'll be better off just buying a gin rummy program for your computer and avoiding this chess book madness altogether. 
Happy reading!!"
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.chess.misc/msg/d96eccf5ddec3c33
Dec 20, 2019
0
#5
Buy him a PC and Fritz 17. If he is talented, he would be an FM before 16.
bong711 wrote:
... If he is talented, he would be an FM before 16.
"... the NM title is an honor that only one percent of USCF members attain. ..." - IM John Donaldson (2015)
http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Reaching-the-Top-77p3905.htm
Dec 21, 2019
0
#7
What is his rating if he has one, that would big difference in what material he should be reading
Canadian Ratings can be found at chess.ca and on side can type in his name and find his rating
winning chess strategies for kids by coackley.
I know a 12 year old boy that I think has some ability in chess. I would like to buy him a chess book for Christmas, I don't think online resources would suit his three minute attention span. So I ask you what beginners chess book would you recommend that covers basic strategy, common openings, some end games, and what ever else the experts here deem necessary. Hopefully something not too dense, but that he can benefit from years to come.