THE SAME PLACE BUT DIFFERENT

Someone has left a door open from another world and ``Strangers,'' or fairies, have invaded modern-day Winnipeg. They come in many forms: a hollow man; leather-jacketed girls who squeeze the blood from their dancing partners; hags who suffocate the sleeping. Their allies are yelping dogs with human faces. And they have stolen John Nesbitt's baby sister and left a lazy, burping changeling in her place. John makes a perilous journey to the land of the Strangers to win his sister back from the Fairy Queen, and to save his world from destruction. Basing his story on British folklore from as far back as the 14th century, Nodelman carries the old legends across the Atlantic and grimly into the present. This is odd and harrowing stuff, made stranger by its placement in the context of the contemporary world. That could have led to a credibility problem, but John's matter-of-fact, first- person narration anchors the story in reality: ``Who would believe me? I don't believe me.'' Such truthful reaction forces readers to believe him, and like him, too, for his wryly humorous observations. Too gory for some, but fans of the unusual and macabre will be gripped right through to the satisfying conclusion. (Fiction. 10- 14)