Benny and Omar — Eoin Colfer

FOR BENNY SHAW, nothing could be worse than having to pick up and move to Africa. Nobody there plays his favorite sport, hurling; the Tunisian heat is grueling; and even his new school is weird, with its lovey-dovey hippies for teachers. How will he ever survive in such a strange place?

Then Benny meets Omar, an orphan whose "English" has come from watching TV, and whose life skills come from surviving on the streets. The two strike up a friendship, and their madcap antics quickly become the bane of village life. But when real life intervenes, the boys must take on their biggest and most dangerous challenge--outwitting the village guards, Benny's parents, and even the police.