If This Were the World

Recess is wholly transformed when Omeed holds up an orange and asks one question: "What if this were the world?"

Ms. Lee's class had come perilously close to running out of games, but the hunt for the best world gains steam right away. The orange is tasty, but too small to share. A dodgeball world can be punted to outer space by a mean older kid. A maple tree isn't portable enough.

Imaginations have never been so alive. But still no perfect world turns up, and the kids' search is leaving a t...