I read a kid's chapter book from my school library in 1988. I remember it was 1988 because that was the year George H. W. Bush was inaugurated and the whole school watched it on TV, and that's the only year I was at that school.
The book was a science fiction chapter book, almost certainly paperback. I was in second grade and was a good reader, but this was a stretch even for me.
I only recall a little bit, because I didn't finish the book. There was an invisible alien spaceship parked in a field, and the main character somehow got on board. He tried to escape by jumping off the spaceship, but a force field bounced him back. There was possibly a second character, possibly a girl, but I could be imagining that bit. I don't recall any alien characters, but again, I didn't finish the book.
My recollection is that this book was set in the regular world. I.e., not in a future world where aliens and spaceships are commonplace. So the invisible spaceship and force field were a big deal.
So really, all I have to go on is:
- Kids or Young Adult chapter book
- English
- Published 1988 or prior
- Invisible spaceship
- Force field
- Jumping into the force field and being bounced back
I'm afraid I don't recall the cover art. I do have a mental image of a towering spaceship that looks more like a building with a balcony than a stereotypical rocketship or UFO, but I suspect that's my mental image of the scene where the kid jumps off the spaceship and gets bounced back by the force field. So, not actually the cover art.