Stacey Van Houten knows what preschoolers look for in a book.

“Dinosaurs,” said Van Houten, a paraprofessional with Lawrence’s early-childhood development program. “Four- and 5-year-olds are fascinated by dinosaurs. If I could have 50 more dinosaur books, they’d be very, very happy.”

Lawrence Public Schools just received a 9,000 grant to create an early-childhood education library for the early- childhood center, now at the former East Heights School. Caleb Ochs, right, paged through a book currently in the collection Friday at East Heights. At left is Alain Marquez.

Now, thanks to a grant from Lawrence’s Ethel and Raymond Rice Foundation, the Lawrence school district can buy more books on dinosaurs and other topics appropriate for students from birth to 5 years old. The $59,000 grant will help administrators establish an early-childhood library at the former East Heights School, which now houses the district’s preschool programs.

“We have an opportunity to really buy age-appropriate books for the kids’ reading level,” said Cris Anderson, early-childhood administrator. “We’re excited about it. The Rice Foundation has been a wonderful friend to us.”

The library currently is full of books from East Heights, Riverside and Grant schools, which have closed in the last two years. Because those were elementary schools, many of the books are geared toward children older than 5.

Anderson hopes the library eventually will have 6,000 books, including books on tape and oversize books for storytellers to read to classes. She hopes the bulk of the library — which will be named for the Rice Foundation — will be in place by this fall.

“We want to get books in their hands,” Anderson said. “And we want books of every type — fiction, nonfiction, poetry, books that are culturally diverse. That’s important, even at this young age.”