sci fi for a 6 year old boy

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My youngest has a reading age of 8 years +.He absolutely loves Dr Who,but the books are still slightly too difficult for him to read by himself.Does anyone have any suggestions for books in a similar vein that are easier?Many thanks.

Nicholas Fisk - his stuff is perfect for younger readers. The Starstormers series would be a good place to start, or Grinny, or there are a couple of volumes of short stories too.
Room 13 by Robert Swindells is good for younger readers, although it is about a vampire and set in Whitby, so maybe not if he's a nervous soul If he likes Dr Who he should be fine with it though - the protagonists are children on a school trip. Rss others tend to be for older readers although he might enjoy Eater of Worlds and there's another one about two children who's mother is a scientist and can "grab things" through time. She tries to save a whale and misses and it lands in the garden I can't think of the name, but it has Time in it.

Astrosaurs?

Madeline L'Engel has a lot of kids books that are scifi and fantasy.

Some Diana Wynne Jones (suitable ones are often more fantasy than sf), eg Chrestomanci ones
Terry Pratchett's Truckers-Diggers-Wings ( and The Carpet People)
The Tripods series by John Christopher

Possibly Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy.

I would have thought if he's finding Dr Who too hard, a lot of these might be a bit beyond him?

DD is 10 (reading age 18+ according to school, though not sure quite what that actually means), and only recently really enjoying the Earthsea books for example - because of content rather than language. Tripods I'd really think of as more suited to young teens?

I can't really think of many Sci-Fi (rather than fantasy) for children this age.

Astrosaurs are good as already suggested, by Steven Cole. Dinosaurs in space lol.

oh, how about Spy Dogs? By Andrew Cope

Or Jack Stalwart adventures by Elizabeth Singer Hunt. Also spy themed, a boy who is a spy trying to find and rescue his brother spy, nice gadgets and risky situations (though no time or space travel that I remember).

Not very similar to dr who but still a great read is the "How to Train your Dragon" series by Cressida Cowel. Set in Viking times a young boy, son to the chief isn't quite what you would call viking material and has lots of hair raising adventures. A very funny and exciting series.

Just thought also of Cows in Action also by Steve Cole - they're time travelling cows who solve mysteries/have adventures, so perhaps closer to Dr Who.

time travelling cows who solve mysteries ? mind boggles

I'm not sure if they are still in print, but the Dragonfall 5 books, The Man from P.I.G. and R.O.B.O.T, and Space Medic would be good

They have great titles, germyrabbit - the Ter-moo-nator, World War Moo, Roman Moo-steries Can't vouch for literary quality, but dd used to like them a lot.

will have to investigate world war moo

Thank you for all your brilliant suggestions.I will take dc 4 to the local library and see which ones he likes best.I love the idea of the time-travelling cows[and i'm sure he will too] and the training my dragon series.Earthsea books are brilliant [i used to like them] but i think a bit too advanced for him.The problem is he's a good reader but he's still a 6 year old and advanced concepts and irony just pass over him, though he can retell the stories fairly acurately in 6 year old 'speak'.

Starfighters, alien invaders, max flash all a hit with my 6yo ds. Ds1 liked steve cole's slime squad better then the cow ones, but loved astrosaurs last summer.