Introductions?

[doliest]

Ok, I'm trying to introduce my 8 year-old cousin to D&D, now I don't need suggestions on a campaign, but on how to handle the rules, because she will not want to read the books, so any suggestions, because I am a horrible teacher.

[Nu]

If she doesn't want to read, this seems like a really bad idea to me.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Indeed. D&D is ALL about reading, so tell her that you simply can't teach about it so as to make it enjoyable without her reading at least a bit. You can't help a music hater to learn to appreciate the beauty of Stairway to Heaven or Paradise City until said person relents. The same idea applies here.

[Skjaldbakka]

I started my D&D career on HeroQuest at about that age. You could teach her to play that first. Or the new game that is similar to it. Descent?

[Guy_Whozevl]

You can simplify the rules for your cousin and start at extremely low levels. Basically, reduce the skill list, don't overcomplicate combat, avoid huge spell lists, and dumb down the game. By doing this, you can maintain the interest level of a younger gamer. In fact, having a story-heavy campaign might be easier becasue player/DM interaction becomes more fun.
To introduce some of my friends to D&D, they raided random dungeon levels, interrogating anyone they didn't kill by kicking them in the crotch. Any corpses were thrown down hallways to check for traps. The Hand of God was a frequent ally who often crushed random NPCs at convenient moments.
Just have fun with it and don't bother with annoying skills such as Diplocheese, Forgery, and Spellcraft. Avoid PrC.
Just my two cp.

[Blanks]

Have her be something she really wants, let her play ...
Okay i dont know a lot about 8 year old girls but my nephew would wanna be a ninja :)
EDIT:
Princess Fiona from shrek! she's cool and she kicks butt!

Then make her a fighter. Never show her all the options just give her 2 choices:

cleave
or
mounted combat

present it like:
Do you want to be good at fighting many people or do you want to be good at riding?

the same with ability scores if they aren't just rolled:
Do you want to be really strong or really clever?

Let her meet easy monsters almost all the time, only occasionally a real foe. Succes is nice :)

[Muyten]

Roleplaying (including D&D) is NOT all about reading in my opinion. It's all about imagining. (She does not need to know how to optimize a wizard or know the specifics of the grappling rules).

When I started out 20 years ago (Oh my gosh it has been that long) I didn't read any rules (this was the D&D before it became advanced). My GM simply asked me what character I would like to be had me roll some stats and did the rest for me. During play I would say "I attack the orc and he would say OK roll a d20 and since your Thac0 is this and the orcs AC is this you need to roll 13. Slowly I learned and after a few months I started reading the rules myself.

I'd say introduce rules slowly and focus on story to begin with. Create her character for her (perhaps giving her some options) and make sure it's not too difficult to play (like having tons of spells and such).