I was discussing with a friend what got me into Sci-fi the other day. Aside from watching Trek with my dad and brother, one memory is of a series of books, set in a primary/elementary school, where the pupils had strange, often SF, adventures. One particular story I remember reading was where these objects start dropping from the sky, and the kids find one and take it to school to study. One of the pupils uses a magnifier on an object, and then everyone feels a sticky film go past them. The school is encased in a kind of feel-good bubble where everyone is completely pliant and nobody argues. One of the kids discovers this when they feel the film pass by them as they leave school grounds, and one of the teachers finds him. The kid convinces the teacher to step outside the boundary and thereby regain their senses. They figure out how to deactivate the device, and then gather up the remainder from (I think) a nearby beach. Somewhere along the way we discover this was a prelude to an alien invasion - the devices would, when activated, render the government, military and population amenable to a weapon-less takeover. The discovery of the device means the invasion is cancelled. Unfortunately, I now cannot remember the series name, character names, school name, etc. Anyone have any ideas what I'm on about? I think these were 1970s/80s, probably not 90s.
glad i could help i read all of them when i was younger, but could only remember the name of that one for some reason. random luckyness!
^No, though I did read a few of those too... they seem much more widely known than the Mr. Browser series. (And it was "My Teacher Flunked the Planet", not "..the Earth". </pedant>)