Boom - by Mark Haddon

This was either a British science fiction story with a very descriptive scene about a flying sandwich, or an English work of realistic fiction, with some funky aliens who look like humans, but with little tails.  Maybe it's the story of a boy and his sister who hate one another's guts until a major event throws them together in a desperate race to save the Earth.  Actually, it is the story of two oddball friends who would do anything to save one another.  This story is so many things, but one thing it is NOT is boring.

The book begins as a realistic mystery when Jimbo and Charlie, two English schoolboys, begin to suspect that their teachers are up to something.  When they bug the staff lounge and overhear two of their teachers speaking in a foreign language, they get even more suspicious.  Before long they are in way over their heads, and not even Jimbo's sister's smelly biker kung-fu boyfriend can keep them safe.  At this point, things take a turn for the sci-fi-tastic, and the story really heats up.

Read this if you want a wild ride on a fun, intelligent, emotional, and strangely alien roller coaster of a story!