what about a crosman ratcatcher, a very lightweight and short gun ideal for youngsters..
i had a king ratcatcher and swapped it with a fella in scotland for an Original mod50 after he posted some pics of his young lad struggling like mad with it, he regularly sends me messages telling how well he's doing with the little rifle, he brings in rabbits for the table on a regular basis (they're out in the middle of nowhere so the little 'un is doing his bit to keep the family fed!!)
a pic of my ex- king ratcsatcher....
hmmm, thinking about it, i'm not sure whether they make a .17