Madeleine Smith/Daily Mining Gazette Parents and children gathered at Black Ice Comics Wednesday morning for a storytime in collaboration with the Portage Lake District Library.

The Portage Lake District Library and Black Ice Comic Shop teamed up to host a storytelling event for kids in the community. Although this is not the first reading event that the library has organized outside its walls, it is the first one being held at the comic shop. 

A group of volunteers from the library showed up and took turns reading comic stories to the kids. The stories were often followed by inspirational conversation that was centered around how they can be brave and heroic in their own lives. 

Kids took turns sharing stories about times when they felt like the characters and found many connections throughout the readings. Of course, sharing was optional and the kids were just encouraged to relax and listen to some fun-filled fictional stories. 

“I know that there have been other readings at the library and even one at the fire station,” Black Ice Comics employee Brendan Letty mentioned.   

The library has been setting up events around town like this for a while now in an effort to provide exciting reading activities for children and give back to the community. Their passion for helping the youth does not go unnoticed; many parents and grandparents are getting involved in these events.  

Shana Porteen, owner of Black Ice Comics was eager to read to the kids as she stood alongside library volunteers and chatted with parents and kids stopping in. 

When Letty was told that Shana was already on the carpet reading to the kids he said, “Oh that doesn’t surprise me, I saw her standing in the wings on the edge of her seat hoping to read to the kiddos.”  

Many kids found books in the store that they wanted to read and many had plans to check out books at the library too. 

“This event brings people together and it teaches children something and gives them something to do. For us, of course, it promotes our business as well so we’re probably gonna have a bunch of kiddos lined up while we serve ice cream. But we really don’t do it for that, we do it for the giving back aspect and just showing kids love and appreciation,” Letty explained.

After the storytelling, kids and parents were lined up to get a sweet treat before heading home.