I emailed your post to a friend who is very, very into astronomy. Hope his response helps:
"I always recommend binos as a first telescope, but these will not thrill a 10-year-old. Fortunately, a $200 budget can actually buy a decent starter telescope these days
To keep it simple, see this page;
http://www.telescope.com/control/category/~category_id=recommendedbeginners/~pcategory=telescopes
I would stay away from any refractor, usually a long, skinny tube. Only the first scope on this page is a refractor.
There are (2) $199 scopes on this page, and they will perform just about equally. He should read about each and decide on whichever he thinks he might like. The $249 telescope will be clearly better than either.
There may be a store that sells telescopes near him, so he should go there and check them out for himself. At this price level you can't really make a big mistake."