MOSES LAKE — Brenda Goodrich learned to love reading when she was a kid and she wants other kids to have that same opportunity.

“I’m a big-time reader. I had a wonderful third-grade teacher that would read to us for an hour every day after our lunch break. And she introduced me to ‘Little House in the Big Woods.’ My mom read to us, too. We had books in our home.”

But it was the “Little House” that caught her imagination.

“I started saving my allowance, and I bought all the hard copies (of the “Little House on the Prairie” series by Laura Ingalls Wilder). It took me forever, but I got them. I still have them,” Goodrich said.

To make sure new generations get the same chance to love reading, Goodrich is launching a branch of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Moses Lake. Started by Parton in 1995, the Imagination Library mails a book each month to children up to age 5.

Goodrich said she learned about Imagination Library during a visit with her family in Missoula, Montana.

“My granddaughter had all these wonderful books on her bookshelf,” Goodrich said.

In Missoula, parents could sign up for the program before they left the hospital with their newborn.

Each month, kids get a book mailed to their home, with their name printed inside. The program ends when children reach their fifth birthday. The last book provides them with an introduction to kindergarten, Goodrich said.

“I thought, ‘I wonder if we have that in Moses Lake.’ And we didn’t,” Goodrich said.

So she decided to start an affiliate. Parents of all children up to five years of age in the 98837 ZIP code can sign up.

The Ephrata Rotary Club also sponsors an Imagination Library affiliate for children in the 98823 ZIP code.

The Moses Lake affiliate works with the Columbia Basin Foundation as its financial partner. Goodrich said monetary donations are being accepted, and can be made through the foundation.

Children living with other family members, or in foster care, still can receive the books as long as a current address is provided, Goodrich said.

The Moses Lake School District also will help sponsor the first year of the Imagination Library, Goodrich said.

Books are chosen by the Imagination Library.

“If a family has more than one child under the age of 5, they get age-appropriate books, whatever age they are. So the 1-year-old won’t get the same book as the 3-year-old,” she said.

“I think it’s a great way for a family to build a library, too,” she said.

The books are something kids can keep forever.

“When the kids have their own kids, they can take their own personal copies (of the books) with them,” she said.

Goodrich said the benefits of literacy go well beyond learning to read, and liking to read.

“This is a fact – the more literate our community is, the better off we all are,” she said. “It’s just a no-lose situation.”

She cited research that shows kids who have the chance to get high quality early learning opportunities are less likely to fall behind in school. And research shows children who fall behind in the primary grades have a very hard time catching up, she said.

Goodrich encouraged parents to sign up for the Imagination Library at the website, www.imaginationlibrary.com.

Parents start by clicking on the U.S. under “choose a country,” then click the “check availability” box, fill in the zip code, city, county and state boxes, then go to “online registration.” Parents also can register by mail by sending their registration to 1044 Road Q SE, Moses Lake, WA 98837.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].