For about 10 minutes, Aryanna Vargas sat quietly with her Curious George book.

Then Dr. Saul Valencia walked in and began asking questions about the book.

“Can you tell me what he’s doing in this picture?” he asked, pointing to a man making a phone call. “Who do you think he’s calling? Do you think he’s calling his mom, his dad, a friend?”

Aryanna began laughing and filling in the pieces of the story.

As they finished with the story, Valencia said, “That’s exactly how it works in the room.”

Vargas is one of several hundred children benefiting from the Reach Out and Read program at Tri-Cities Community Health. The nationwide initiative to give books to children started nearly 30 years ago in Boston.