Maybe The Gold-Bug by Edgar Allen Poe? Although the language might be a bit baroque.
this, but for a 10 year old consider getting the Great Illustrated Classics abridged version. i read it when i was 10, and it kinda blew my mind.
Thanks. We just finished Gulliver's Travels with him, so I bet he can handle it.
I very much remember this, from when I was ten or so.
In the same vein, is the "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Dancing_M...