SOLVED. YA Dystopian where all houses look the same [s]

[Sarah Hutchinson]

I got this book when I was probably in the third grade, so 1995ish give or take. I got it from a book club thing that I belonged to that also sent me choose your own adventure RL Stein books.

What I remember from this novel is that in the beginning, the main char lives in a world where no one goes outside. Everyone lives in their own house and has never been outside. They live and know each other primarily through something like the internet and VR.

Anything you want is fulfilled, for example if you were to ask the AI for a strawberry milkshake, you would get one from seemingly nowhere.

Someway or another, he finds himself outside of his house and is amazed at what it looks like. He wanders around for a while and then realizes he doesn't know which house was his because everything is identical.

He eventually sees something like a pit (?) filled with slaves that are the ones to provide the people in the houses with the things they asked for. So, asking for a strawberry shake meant that one of these people actually made it for you and that's how you got what you ordered.

This has been driving me insane for almost two decades. I am pretty sure it was a YA book.

[Tab]

Do you remember the the cover?
Part of a series?
Remember any other characters like family members, friends, pets, etc?

[Cupcakedoll]

[Sarah Hutchinson]

OMG! Cupcakedoll, that’s it!!! Thank you so much!!!

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

This is a popular book - requested 8x now.