ROCHELLE – Thursday was National Family Reading Night and the Creston Dement Public Library hosted its own special event to celebrate that included special guests.

Thursday night at the Creston Dement Public Library was family reading night with the Rockford IceHogs. Children and their parents gathered around the fireplace in the second room of the library to listen to two players from the Rockford Ice Hogs hockey team read them story books of their choice. 

Following the stories, the IceHogs players were signing autographs and posing for pictures with all of the kids. This was the library’s third family reading night, but the first one that any of the Ice Hog players have attended. 

“We are very thankful for the Ice Hogs coming out to our event, they are a great organization because their players go and help out communities,” said library director Kristi Scherer. 

While this event is meant to be a fun night for children and their families, the main goal of the event is to get parents and their kids’ reading together. Scherer says that only a little bit of reading a night instead of television or video games can do a lot of good for a child. 

“Just 15 to 20 minutes of reading each night, whether its reading with your child, reading to them or having them read to you, can improve many of their skills while also providing good quality family time,” added Scherer. 

Following the story time and autograph time, library officials handed out free books that were purchased for all of the kids to take home. 

“We are really grateful for our little community, to be able to offer these types of events,” said Scherer.