Sci-Fi readers: Recommendations for a preteen?

[spacemountain]

I loved Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. In some ways it is almost better than the movie. Although the only thing is that there is a LOT of science talk that could be hard for him to understand. I thought the science parts were interesting, but maybe that's just me. But it is an excellent book and I definitely recommend it and also the second book, The Lost World.