You’ll get a lot of different answers to this and it depends on what your daughter is going to do, likes doing, how tall she is and how much money you want to spend.

My daughter had a FS Kona Process 24 up until 9, nearly 10, and now she’s on a Canyon Young Hero. Full suspension has definitely been perfect for us, she likes tech stuff, jumping and going quickly whatever the conditions. From a being slightly heavier perspective FS has most definitely not slowed her down, even on long road rides, although sometimes I wish it had :O 🙂

If you are just going for forks and a hardtail, Amber has had Manitou on all her bikes from 20” upwards and they’ve always been faultless and worked brilliantly!

Depending on weight most kids sus forks are pretty useless. You can always mullet a small bike though, and drop on a 26″ wheel to help absorb bumps a bit

We did exactly as you said.
My boy’s nine and on a 24″ Forme hybrid bike, very similar to that giant. It’s light, geared and been great for riding round.
We put a rst first air fork on the front for this summer, with a hydro disc brake and thicker tyres and wider bars, it’s still got the canti on the back, but he’s not heavy.

He was already giving things a go, but this has transformed his confidence jumping. He’s jumping tables, trying some gaps, and basically trying anything.
The bikes not perfect , the front rose and slackened a fair bit, but it’s great for him this summer and it’s not for ever.
I’ve got a daughter 18 months older on 26, her bikes too big for him, his is too small for her. I know this won’t be a bike for ages but it’s making this summer brilliant for him

I did similar but found the RST first forks really hard to source. A complete 24” with a better build would be easier to find although a little more expensive.

lookout for a whyte 603 if you want about the smallest 26” hardtail you can get. Picked one up for my son earlier in the year.

I think it is but will check later. It was a cheap second hand auction buy so I didn’t have much choice, but he loves it.
24 disc wheel was from Wiggles eBay outlet trisportsresort. They’ve started up again so could be worth a look for the next dump of clearance stuff