Mr Browser and the Brain Sharpeners
by Philip Curtis (Alfred A. Knopf, 1981); audiobook read by Sandi Toksvig (Brilliance, 2014)
A perfectly pitched middle grade adventure, pitting 10-year-old Michael Fairlie against egg-headed aliens who want to smarten up and then abduct his classmates. The foggy school oval and pepper-pot spaceships lend an eerie imagery to what otherwise is a fast, fun tale.