OTTUMWA — While parents sat around the waiting room reading magazines, their children were being read to.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack sat down Thursday to replace the volunteer who already reads to children in the waiting room at Ottumwa Pediatrics as part of the “Reach out and Read” program.

He took out a jumbo-sized book “Is Your Mama a Llama?”

At some points, the children were enthralled with the book. At other times, they were more interested in each other or what was going on around the room.

But overall, the reading seemed to go over well, though Loebsack admitted it’s not always easy to keep the attention of little ones — it’s a bit different than lecturing at Cornell College, he said.

When the book was finished, one little girl who apparently didn’t catch Loebsack’s name said, “I like your tie man.”

Loebsack, D-Mount Vernon, and the medical staff he’d been visiting with laughed. He said he had a lot of respect for the volunteer who reads to the children there. His wife, a former second-grade teacher, loves to hear of his efforts at interacting with his youngest constituents.

They — and the techniques to encourage literacy — were the focus of his visit Thursday.

The congressman had just finished a tour of the medical practice. Dr. Nancy O’Brien showed him a typical exam room. Besides being read to in the waiting room, kids will find a children’s book waiting for them in the exam room cupboards.

“We start our visit with a book,” explained Dr. O’Brien, who is in charge of the center’s reading program.

She said this week, a parent said not to bother giving their 6-month-old a book — he would just chew on it.

“If he chews on it, fine,” the doctor had said. “And he’s not going to be able to orient it, either, so if he holds it upside-down, fine. You are exposing him to books.”

“That’s perfectly normal developmentally,” agreed the congressman, a former educator. “And when he comes in at a year-and-half, he’s not chewing on the book. And that’s part of the development process, too.”

Another, more real obstacle than age may be a parent’s inability to read. The medical practice, said Dr. O’Brien, sees English-speaking parents who can’t read or write as well as Spanish-speaking parents who can’t read or write in their native language. Illiteracy in a parent is not an insurmountable obstacle.

“It doesn’t matter,” O’Brien told Loebsack, explaining that even parents who can’t read can show their baby the pictures and even tell them a story to go along with the pictures. “Obviously, then, when they leave, we hope the parents will read the book to the child.”