Ethan & Choco's Book Club

Striving to make access to books and reading a core part of the care that SuperKids receive in the hospital, with the principal premise that literacy support for children fighting cancer and other life-threatening conditions can help promote cognitive development and social connections that are part of thriving through treatment and beyond


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Ethan’s May Wishlist Fundraiser – for Beginning Reader Books!

Happy May! Ethan’s May Wishlist Fundraiser is for Beginning Reader books. Please check out his video below!

To donate a beginning reader book, click on the link below or scan the QR code.  If you’d like to make an ongoing monetary donation that goes towards our monthly targeted wishlist fundraisers, please consider becoming an ECBC Gem (which stands for Give Every Month). You can click on the link below to become a GEM, and select the monthly amount that you would like to give (or choose your own amount).

Thank you for helping hospitalized kids thrive with high-quality books and reading experiences! #maywishlistfundraiser #beginningreaderbooks #books4CHOC #readthinkthrive #thrivagainstcancer

To donate a book to Ethan’s May Wishlist Fundraiser: CLICK HERE

To become an ECBC Gem, CLICK HERE


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Outpatient Delivery Day at CHOC Children’s Hospital!

Today was outpatient library re-stocking day at both the Outpatient Infusion Center and the Oncology Clinic at CHOC Children’s Hospital. We delivered 420 new books of all types for patients of all ages ranging from infants/toddlers through teens and young adults. We also delivered 13 of our Read Think Thrive Book Bags for kids at CHOC to receive after they are diagnosed with cancer — which means that we delivered a total of 550 new books plus crafting supplies and other literacy support materials that are in the book bags. Thank you to everyone who contributed to our April Wishlist Fundraiser for Spanish language books. Your donations helped to offset the usual amount that we spend to replenish our Spanish books. Please watch out for our upcoming May Wishlist Fundraiser, to be announced in a few days!


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Mega Book Bag Packaging Day Success!

Here’s what it looks like when ECBC puts together Read Think Thrive Bags for newly diagnosed cancer patients at CHOC. Each gorgeous canvas bag is filled with 10 amazing age-appropriate books, art supplies, book crafting supplies (blank books, blank comic books), “care cards” from kids in the community, and information about Ethan & Choco’s Book Club. These bags are one way that ECBC helps to engage patients’ minds so they can thrive during treatment. If you are interested in learning more about getting involved in ECBC as a bedside reader, board member, sponsor, or volunteer at events like these, please e-mail us at Ali@ECbookclub.com and we will get you the info you need to make an impact with hospitalized kids. Thank you Board of Directors member Susie and lead volunteer Anne for your hard work in coordinating this packaging day, and thank yo to our amazing volunteers for helping! #megabagpackaging day #readthinkthrive #thriveagainstcancer


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Another Successful Hewes Middle School Book Drive!

THANK YOU to Hewes Middle School families for the 320 new books that you donated to Ethan & Choco’s Book Club this week! This was Hewes’ third year hosting their own school book drive, and as in the past, they delivered a terrific collection of new, high-quality books for patients ages infant through teen/young adult(including 74 graphic novels and 54 board books — our two most needed and book types)!

A special thank you to Mrs. Ehrhard’s PE class for winning the class competition by donating the most books. They will have a private Gaga Ball party and donuts during their first period! And a HUGE thank you to Hewes’ Leadership teacher Dean Jennings for leading the effort and for the work of the leadership class in organizing and promoting the book drive. We appreciate you so much and can’t wait to share these amazing books with oncology patients at CHOC Children’s Hospital!


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Ethan’s April Wishlist Fundraiser – for Spanish Books!

Happy April! Ethan’s April Wishlist Fundraiser is for Spanish-language books, which are in high demand at CHOC and we don’t have any of in our gifting collections. Please check out his video below!

To donate a Spanish book, click on the link below or scan the QR code.  If you’d like to make an ongoing monetary donation that goes towards our monthly targeted wishlist fundraisers, please consider becoming an ECBC Gem (which stands for Give Every Month). You can click on the link below to become a GEM, and select the monthly amount that you would like to give (or choose your own amount).

Thank you for helping hospitalized kids thrive with high-quality books and reading experiences! #aprilwishlistfundraiser #spanishbooks #books4CHOC #readthinkthrive #thrivagainstcancer

To donate a book to Ethan’s April Wishlist Fundraiser: CLICK HERE
To become an ECBC Gem, CLICK HERE


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Thank you Hicks Canyon Elementary!

THANK YOU Hicks Canyon Elementary School PTA and families for hosting another book drive for ECBC and for your donation this week of 77 new books. The donation included ALL wonderful high-interest titles, including many graphic novels which we really need. Hicks Canyon conduced the book drive alongside their school’s book fair, which works so well for elementary schools since parents are visiting the fair anyway to purchase books for their kids and teachers (and schools usually benefit in the form of Scholastic points from the increased sales).

This was Hicks’ second book drive of the school year to benefit ECBC — resulting in a total of 164 new books during the 2023-2024 school year. Hicks is one of ECBC’s few “regular” donors (aka “Thrive Partner Schools”). We so appreciate our Thrive Partner Schools as they provide passive book income that we can count on — which our tiny nonprofit very much needs. A special thank you to Tina Jussal for making this (and every) Hicks book drive happen!


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Thank You High School Ethan & Choco Clubs!

ECBC received a couple of donations this month from two high school Ethan & Choco Clubs. Both clubs are run by student leaders, so all club activities are fully organized and implemented by high schoolers. Thank you to the Foothill High School ECBC club for holding a book drive —which involved making posters and donation boxes, promoting on social media, and coordinating collection sites with English teachers. The Foothill club donated over 100 books, with Ms Womack Williams’ class donating the most and winning the club’s promised donut party!

Thank you also to the ECBC club at El Dorado High (called Books for CHOC) for the bookmarks you donated last week. They are beautiful and literary-themed, and we can’t wait to share them with patients next month! 

ECBC is so grateful for the few existing ECBC support clubs, as they help to spread awareness about our cause, assist with the high volume of books ECBC needs for donations each month, and result in wonderful student-created materials that are creative and personal. The clubs also provide high school students with impactful leadership opportunities so they are a win-win for all!

If you or a teen you know is interested in starting a club at your own high school at the start of the 2024-2025 school year, please check out the information/ideas sheet below. Contact Ali at ali@ECbookclub.com to learn more. 

School-based-Ethan-and-Choco-clubsDownload


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Outpatient Delivery Day at CHOC!

Today was outpatient library re-stocking day at both the Outpatient Infusion Center and the Oncology Clinic at CHOC Children’s Hospital. We delivered 400 new books of all types for patients of all ages ranging from infants/toddlers through teens and young adults. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our March Wishlist Fundraiser for poetry books. Your donations allowed us to offer poetry to patients for the first time. You can still contribute to this fundraiser in the next couple of days using this link: https://bit.ly/wishlist_poetrybooks. Please watch out for our upcoming April Wishlist Fundraiser to be announced in a few days!


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Ethan’s March Wishlist Fundraiser – for Poetry!

Happy March! Ethan’s March Wishlist Fundraiser is for poetry books — which we don’t have any of in our gifting collection. Please check out his video below! To donate a poetry book, click on the link below or scan the QR code. If you’d like to make an ongoing monetary donation that goes towards our monthly targeted wishlist fundraisers, please consider becoming an ECBC Gem (which stands for Give Every Month). You can click on the link below to become a GEM, and select the monthly amount that you would like to give (or choose your own amount).

Thank you for helping hospitalized kids thrive with high-quality books and reading experiences! #marchwishlistfundraiser #poetrybooks #books4CHOC #readthinkthrive #thrivagainstcancer

To donate a book to Ethan’s March Wishlist Fundraiser: CLICK HERE
To become an ECBC Gem, CLICK HERE

Scan to access wish list:


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Outpatient Book Delivery Day!

Today was outpatient library re-stocking day at both the Outpatient Infusion Center and the Oncology Clinic at CHOC Children’s Hospital. We delivered several hundred new books of all types for patients of all ages ranging from infants/toddlers through teens and young adults. We also re-stocked inventory of our Read Think Thrive Bags for kids who are newly diagnosed with cancer — each of which contain ten new age-appropriate books and book crafting supplies. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our February Wishlist Fundraiser for board books. Your donations allowed us to minimize the numbers of board books that we had to purchase as part of this month’s donation. You can still contribute to this fundraiser in the next couple of days using this link: https://bit.ly/wishlist_boardbooks . Please watch out for our upcoming March Wishlist Fundraiser to be announced in a few days!