While I certainly think that a 9 year old can handle a Kindle (I am a school librarian), I think one thing to keep in mind is that books for Kindle must be purchased. Is he in the habit of buying a lot of books anyway? If the family is used to usually checking most of their books out at the library and try not to spend money on books then this may not work for them. If, however, they already buy books frequently, then it may be a great option because Kindle books are also much cheaper than print books usually. I have heard, also, that Kindle is also supposed to be working with some of the library downloadable e-book programs so that people can check out Kindle books from their libraries but I don't know if that's in place yet or when it will be.