Sixth-grader Ron Allbright can't tell a lie, so when his teacher asks him why his math homework looks like Swiss cheese, he tells the unbelievable truth: an alien ate it. Who would credit such stuff? Nobody--except class bully Billy Becker, actually an alien criminal sought by the members of the Galactic Patrol whose spaceship has crashed through Ron's bedroom window. With obvious delight in things absurd--android parents, talking plants, and little green extraterrestrials--Coville conducts readers on a merry chase, with Ron at the hub. Bound to ring in Coville's fans, this lively sf frolic is an agreeable mix of suspense and comedy with an animated cast of people and other worldly sorts that kids will love rooting for and against. (Reviewed Jan. 15, 1994)