Gypsyworld

Can a group of typical teenagers (similar to those in Thompson's A Band of Angels ) kidnapped to a parallel world learn from its different way of life? At first they mostly hang out, bickering, at the home of their kidnappers, the elected monarchs of Gypsyworld. An attempted escape results only in a kind of wilderness experience with their kidnappers' son. This brings the teens together as a group and, conveniently, into three couples. Reader interest is kept up as the first mystery (Why were the kids abducted?) is succeeded naturally by another (Will they learn the lessons of Gypsyworld and want to stay, or will they leave?). Gypsyworld itself is an environmental utopia, like Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia though less exhaustively described; its most vividly drawn difference from our world is in the greater caring and respect people have for one another and for the earth. Thompson's urge to teach leads at times to statistic-laden dialogue, and he tries too hard to imitate teenagers' speech patterns and slang. An uneven though thought-provoking story. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)