"Remember," Maria Ivanovna said, tapping her copy of the manual, "the root is the heart of the word. Without it, the meaning dies."

As the bell rang, Misha tucked the book into his backpack. He realized that thanks to those lessons, he wasn't just learning to pass a test—he was learning how to build worlds, one root word at a time.

The classroom was unusually quiet for a Tuesday morning. On every desk sat the familiar blue-and-white cover of the textbook for the 3rd grade, authored by Baikova .