Dave , there is nothing boring about a yew bow build, especially if you are doing it. You might be surprised you can easily get 60lb longbows from each of these staves, if you wanted to. Shortish, bend through the handle, just qualifying as an English longbows, as narrow as 1" wide through the middle 12", will do the trick.
I say this because most kids won't truly appreciate a yew bow. I would be making a whitewood bow for a kid, at least for their first bow(I am a bit of a stingy bastard though
)