Author/Book title help

[ashley2385]

This was a book i read as a kid so the details are a little fuzzy. I think it takes place in the future, in New York. The city is run down, buildings abandoned, and people are living in poverty. Somehow the kids get transported to this other world. I picture a desert like place with cool buildings. I think the twist is that they aren't really transported there they are really hooked up to virtual reality type thing. Then maybe they have to choose between staying in the real world or choosing to stay in the new world forever?
I know this isn't much to go on but maybe it will sound vaugly similar to a book out there someone's read.
I feel like it might have been a newbery award winner but i have no idea even what decade it was written.

 

[WickedWitch]

Maybe this one?
Virtual War by Gloria Skurzynski
"Three genetically engineered children who have been raised in virtual reality boxes with no real human contact are teamed up to fight a virtual war for much-needed disease-free territory."

 

[ashley2385]

no that's not it but thanks so much for replying. I think they were just normal kids who thought they were either time traveling or traveling to another planet.

Its driving me crazy though i'm trying various search engines with random key words but i haven't found anything yet, although i have found other books i read as a kid that i might check out.