The annual grade 2 production of the Ogre Awards took place in late March at the Bucknall Theater, where this year’s cast traveled “Around the World in 80 Pages.” Students portrayed characters from stories originating from places including Hawaii, Ghana, Russia and Vietnam.

During the preceding months, the students heard stories from various cultures (told by lower school librarian Kathy Clark) and had lengthy discussions about each story’s characters and the different archetypes they represented. They later voted on which characters would win awards in various categories. Students then played these characters in the Ogre Awards show, where they were presented with the awards.

The theme for the show was based on the classic Jules Verne novel “Around the World in 80 Days,” and rose out of an amusing wager between Clark and fellow lower school librarian Judy Atterholt.

“Ms. Atterholt and I bet on the fastest way to get around the world in stories: through nonfiction like atlases and geography textbooks, or through fiction and folklore,” said Clark.

Lower school technical theater teacher Danny Dunn provided considerable help by tracking down variations of “It’s a Small World (After All)” that were based on musical traditions from the cultures represented in the show.

As has become tradition in the 20-plus-year history of the Ogre Awards, a special Ogre Award was bestowed upon a Harker staff member for his or her support of Harker’s libraries. This year’s recipient was none other than Dan Hudkins, director of information technology service and support. “Mr. Hudkins has always been a library advocate, even before he was a founding member of the school’s Information Literacy Committee,” Clark said.