MY LIFE AMONG THE ALIENS

Brash good humor from a newcomer who is anything but starry eyed. The narrator, Will, and his daring brother, Robby, lead ordinary lives but for the fact that ``alien situations'' keep occurring. Space warriors who land on the first day of summer vacation change their minds about world domination when they meet the boys' mother. An alien seed-spitting champ crashes Robby's Olympic-theme birthday party, while fans of their mother's bran muffins (``all from other planets'') buzz their yard regularly. In equally deft, entertaining episodes, an alien invader takes over the body of a neighbor's dog, who suddenly starts talking; Miss, an alien playmate, turns a game of pretend involving dinosaurs and floods into the real thing; and Robby leaves the planet without permission. Although much fun is poked at parents, this is a world where no-nonsense moms make the rules and enforce them, and there really is a Santa Claus. With zany black-and-white cartoons of small angular figures, this is a droll and irreverent comedy, at the center of which beats a heart of gold. (Fiction. 8-11)