Ethan & Choco's Book Club

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

Author Archives: aliposner


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ECBC at Miracle Manor

Ethan & Choco’s Book Club was honored to be part of Miracles for Kids’ holiday party today for CHOC patients and families living at Miracle Manor (a home subsidized by Miracles for Kids for low-income CHOC families with critically ill children). ECBC Board member and bedside reader Susie provided a holiday-themed storytime for the kids and then passed out new, age-appropriate holiday books for all patients and siblings. All books were also packaged with handwritten holiday cards from local elementary and high school students — thank you to Tustin and Placentia students for providing such thoughtful cards. We love adding books and reading to these families’ holiday festivities (and how amazing that during the festivities, Miracles for Kids volunteers are busy decorating each of the family’s apartments for Christmas!). Thank you Miracles for Kids for letting ECBC participate in this event for our 6th consecutive year, thank you Susie for representing ECBC and delivering literary joy, and thank you to those who donated holiday-themed books for the kiddos!

If you haven’t had a chance to donate a holiday book, Ethan is still running our December holiday book drive. Click HERE to donate.

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Please Help ECBC Share December Holiday Books with Hospitalized Kids!

It’s December, and ECBC’s Read-Aloud Wagons are now filled with Christmas, Hanukkah, and other December holiday-themed books for our bedside reader volunteers to share with patients. Our volunteers love reading aloud some of the greatest children’s holiday stories of all time, as well as some contemporary favorites. However, we need many more holiday books so that kids who are stuck in the hospital this month can select a book to keep from our gifting carts. Please check out Ethan’s December holiday book wish list and donate a book or two at bit.ly/decemberholidaybooks


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Thank you CarterStrongForever!

Thank you CarterStrongForever for your annual CarterStrong Bucket List Book Drive! And a special thank you to the Huntington Academy of Dance in Huntington Beach for hosting the HAD Goes Gold Collecton Drive at your studio in honor of Carter. We LOVE receiving Carter’s favorite books — he had the best taste in books, and it’s so fun to get to share them with CHOC patients year after year!


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Ethan’s November Wishlist Fundraiser – for December Holiday Books

Ethan’s November Wishlist Fundraiser is for December holiday books. Please check out his video!

To donate a December holiday-themed book for patients at CHOC, click on the link below. Holiday books will also go to oncology and other patients who are living at Miracle Manor, which is Miracles for Kids’ subsidized housing for families battling life-altering illness. 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!

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

To become an ECBC GEM: CLICK HERE


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Outpatient Oncology Delivery Day!

ECBC just delivered 527 new books to CHOC’s Outpatient Infusion Center (OPI) and the Oncology Clinic — our largest outpatient delivery to date! Every bin of our gifting libraries in both outpatient areas was empty down to the last book (usually there are a few less popular books that linger in each of the bins from month to month). We love re-stocking our gifting libraries each month and knowing that oncology patients are selecting high-quality books to keep (and hopefully read!) each time they visit the hospital! Thank you to Tarbut V’ Torah Lower School and Baum Orthodontics for your significant contributions to this months’ donation–We couldn’t keep up with this volume without the support of our community!


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Thank you Baum Squad!

THANK YOU to Baum Orthodontics in Tustin for the 117 new books! These will all be part of our delivery this Friday of approximately 500 books to CHOC’s Outpatient Infusion Center and the Oncology Clinic, where patients get to pick out a new book at every visit.

We are so grateful for our ongoing 5-years long partnership with Baum Ortho! And we so appreciate Dr. Baum’s ingenious retainer replacement program, where patients who have lost their retainer receive a greatly discounted price for their new retainer if they donate some new children’s books. We’ve now received thousands of books from Baum families….apparently kids are losing a ton of retainers!

Thank you Baum Ortho (and Baum Ortho families) for your incredible continued support!


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Halloween BOOks at CHOC!

ECBC has had so much fun over the past couple weeks celebrating Halloween with CHOC patients by sharing terrific Halloween-themed literature!  This includes patients and siblings trick-or-treating for 207 Halloween books at our annual BOO-ks for Treats event; delivering 473 Halloween-themed books to our outpatient libraries at CHOC’s Outpatient Infusion Center and at the Oncology Clinic; handing out 97 Halloween books individually to patient rooms via our Mobile Book Cart; and reading a whole bunch of spooky stories at oncology, neurology, and other patients’ bedside. This amounts to a total of 777 new Halloween-themed books being gifted this Halloween season! Additionally, volunteers gave out beautiful and inspirational literary Halloween cards made by local high students (e.g., “ENWITCH your mind by READING” with an illustration of a witch reading! or CARVE some time for reading with an illustration of a carved pumpkin). Patients are so excited to celebrate Halloween, and it’s magical how powerful a wonderful Halloween book can be to inspire reading that wouldn’t otherwise happen!

A huge thank you to everyone who donated and conducted their own book drives to make this all possible: NCL North Tustin for the 183 Halloween books and 186 Halloween cards they donated (thank you Ali, Haley and Kendall Langdon for organizing the book drive); the William P. Gray Legion Lex American Inn of Court for the 83 books they donated (thank you Elia Naqvi for organizing this book drive); the many individual donors who participated in Ethan’s Halloween book drive on Amazon that resulted in hundreds more books arriving in the mail; the Foothill High Schools Ethan & Choco student club for the 64 Halloween cards they made (thank you to club President Eleanor Nguyen); El Dorado High School’s Books 4 CHOC Club for the 50 cards they made (thank you to club President Leila Do); ECBC lead volunteers Cathie James and Anne Case for helping to host our BOO-ks for Treat event; and all of our ECBC bedside readers this month for delivering such fun read-aloud in patient rooms!


This post cannot be complete without mentioning the significance of ECBC’s Halloween book sharing for our Co-Founder Ethan. Just a few days prior to Halloween in 2014, Ethan was diagnosed with Leukemia at 7.5 years old. On October 31st of that year, exactly ten years ago today, Ethan had surgery to insert a port in his chest, he received his first dose of chemo, and he dressed up with his siblings to trick-or-treat at CHOC for candy and other small toys (yet no books to be seen!). And now, 10 years later and a high-school senior, it’s remarkable to witness Ethan’s continued joy in sharing his love of reading as he hands out Halloween-themed books so that patients can also enjoy literary candy! 

 


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THANK YOU NCL North Tustin!

A huge thank you to NCL North Tustin for hosting a Halloween book drive for ECBC over the past couple of weeks.  We just received their donation of 183 Halloween-themed books — a terrific collection of new, high-appeal books for CHOC patients af all ages. NCL members also made beautiful literary-themed Halloween cards, with handwritten messages, to be gifted to patients along with the books. THANK YOU to NCL North Tustin young ladies and families who contributed to this awesome bookraiser — we can’t wait to share these with CHOC kiddos at our upcoming Halloween book give-aways at CHOC! A special shout out to Ali, Haley, and Kendall Langdon for organizing the book drive and collecting + bookplating all of the books at your home!  New, high-quality books are expensive — It is efforts like these that keep us going! 

We still need about 100 more books for our BOO-ks for Treats Halloween book gifting at CHOC. Please donate a book if you haven’t yet! To donate, go to: bit.ly/Halloweenbooks4ECBC


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Thank you, AGAIN, 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 93 new books. Per their usual, Hicks’ donation included all wonderful high-interest titles, including a handful of graphic novels and beginning reading books which we really need. Hicks Canyon conducted 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).

Thank you Hicks for being one of ECBC’s few “regular” donors (aka “Thrive Partner Schools”). We so appreciate our Thrive Partner Schools as they provide passive book income for us 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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ECBC’s Halloween Book Drive!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who contributed to ECBC’s virtual fundraiser, BOOK IT, during the month of September. We literally can’t run our programs without our community’s support, so we appreciate every donation so very much. While our official fundraising window is closed, the donation website will remain open in the coming weeks because we only raised under half of our fundraising goal and annual expenses. We work on collecting book donations all year long; however, we need the monetary donations for a variety of expenses in order to keep our programs going (e.g., books to meet patients’ needs/interests that we don’t tend to collect via book drives; book storage; program materials other than books such as art supplies, parent pamphlets, bookmarks, reading lights, canvas bags for our book bags that are given to every child at CHOC who is diagnosed with cancer; library supplies; printing/copying; software). You can still donate to BOOK IT at runsignup.com/BOOKIT2024.

Now on to October! October is here, and so it’s time for our annual Halloween book drive! Every year, ECBC hosts BOO-ks for Treats at CHOC, where we give away hundreds of Halloween-themed books to kids who are stuck in the hospital on Halloween. BOO-ks for Treats holds a very special place in our organizations’s heart, especially ECBC Co-Founder Ethan’s, since Ethan was diagnosed with cancer just a few days before Halloween and trick-or-treated at CHOC’s Halloween event on the same day that he had surgery to insert his port and start chemotherapy. It’s hard to believe that this was TEN years ago! We founded ECBC a year later, and ever since then, we have been able to provide CHOC patients of all ages with beautiful age-appropriate Halloween books to add to their usual stash of candy and toys. In sum, we have donated hundreds of Halloween books each year and over 4000 Halloween books in total!

Please check out Ethan’s video plug to learn more and go to bit.ly/Halloweenbooks4ECBC to purchase a book off our Halloween Wish List on Amazon. All books will be sent directly to ECBC and bookplated with donor names. THANK YOU for providing literary joy to kids who are stuck in the hospital on Halloween!


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September Is Almost Done – Please Consider Supporting BOOK IT!

With just a couple days left in September and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month (CCAM), we are making a final plea to please support BOOK IT 2024, the annual fundraiser for Ethan & Choco’s Book Club. We have always hosted our annual fundraiser during CCAM because it’s the time of year when cancer-related organizations make a dedicated effort to increase awareness and raise funds for those affected by childhood cancer. Cancer is still the #1 cause of death by disease for children in America. Among those who survive, 3 of 5 kids diagnosed with cancer face significant late-effects of treatment, including long-term neurocognitive effects, which continue to affect survivors’ quality of life for their entire life. ECBC aims to elevate kids’ academic, cognitive, and social thrivership during and long after cancer treatment through our programs that provide high-quality books and reading experiences. We very much need your help to sustain our work! We are currently only at 1/3 of our fundraising goal — which is equivalent to the amount of funds we need annually to run our programs at CHOC Children’s Hospital. If you haven’t yet supported our fundraiser, PLEASE helps us by clicking the link below and making a “multiple of 10” donation (in honor of the upcoming 10th anniversary of Ethan’s cancer diagnosis). If you can share the donation site with 10 family or friends, please do so! THANK YOU for your support — we count on our community to be able to continue to make a difference in the lives of hospitalized kids!

To donate: RUNSIGNUP.COM/BOOKIT2024

To view Ethan’s BOOK IT 2024 Video Plug: https://bit.ly/BOOKIT2024_Ethansplug


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Outpatient Book Delivery Day at CHOC Children’s Hospital!

Today was our monthly Outpatient Gifting Library re-stocking day at CHOC Children’s Hospital’s Outpatient Infusion Center (OPI) and at the Oncology Clinic. We re-stocked our bins with 315 new books for patients of all ages, so that every time patients visit CHOC for a chemo infusion or cancer clinic check-up, they can select a book to keep. We work hard to ensure that we provide a great variety of book types so that there’s something of interest for everyone — including graphic novels for reluctant readers, informational texts for the kiddos who prefer nonfiction fact books, and a variety of poetry anthologies ranging from the silly poetry of Shel Silverstein to the more mature and emotional poems of Poet Laureate Ada Limon. While we rarely get to witness the patients on the outpatient side select their books, today we had the privilege of catching cancer warrior “B” scan the options, choose a touch-and-feel board book about sharks as well as an anthology of Avengers stories, and sit down in the OPI lobby to start “reading”. Keep reading and thriving, Superhero B!

If you haven’t yet contributed to ECBC’s annual fundraiser and would like to help us sustain our monthly outpatient gifting programs, as well as our inpatient book and reading programs at CHOC, please consider making a monetary donation at runsignup.com/BOOKIT2024. Thank you — we depend on our community to keep it all going!


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Thank you Kiwanis Club Tustin!

This morning, co-founder Ethan attended Tustin Kiwanis Club’s Friday Meeting in order to receive an award for “outstanding academic achievement, positive impact on the community, and academic character”. In an opportunity to speak after receiving the award, Ethan shared his founding story and about ECBC’s mission, programs, and volume of book gifting. Ethan also gave a plug for our current annual fundraiser … which resulted in hundreds of dollars being donated on the spot! Thank you Kiwanis Club members, and especially Tim O’Donuhue for following up on Ethan’s speech with a commitment to donate and challenging fellow members to do the same!

Presenting at a Kiwanis Club meeting was one of Ethan’s first community presentations to garner support for our cause nearly nine years ago…it’s amazing to see him still going at it as he’s gearing up to finish high school and head to college!

Thank you Kiwanis Club for honoring Ethan today!


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PLEASE HELP: THE BOOK IT 2024 ONLINE FUNDRAISER IS LIVE AND READY FOR DONATIONS!

It’s September 1st, which means that it’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month (CCAM). Which also means that it’s time for Ethan & Choco’s Book Club’s (ECBC) annual fundraiser — BOOK IT, Running for Reading for Hospitalized Kids! We have always hosted our annual fundraiser during CCAM because it’s the time of year when cancer-related organizations make a dedicated effort to increase awareness and raise funds for those affected by childhood cancer. Cancer is still the #1 cause of death by disease for children in America. Among those who survive, 3 of 5 kids diagnosed with cancer face significant late-effects of treatment, which continue to affect survivors’ quality of life for their entire life. ECBC aims to elevate kids’ thrivership during and long after cancer treatment through our programs that provide high-quality books and reading experiences, and we need your support to sustain our efforts!

Tomorrow (Labor Day) would have been our BOOK IT charity run; however, due to increased upfront costs, we are not able to host our in-person event this year. Please check out Ethan’s video and support our virtual fundraiser! Note the “multiple of 10” theme, in honor of the upcoming 10th anniversary of Ethan’s cancer diagnosis. You can run or walk or even skip 10 (minutes, miles, laps, etc) in in the spirit of BOOK IT, and then go to the BOOK IT donation site to donate a multiple of 10. And, if you can share the donation site with 10 family or friends, please do so! THANK YOU for your support — we need you!

To donate, go to RUNSIGNUP.COM/BOOKIT2024


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Thank You Arroyo Elementary School!

Thank you Arroyo for collecting books for ECBC at your book fair this past week — we are grateful for the 87 awesome new books that you donated. And a special thank you to Claudia Rounaghi for your help organizing the book drive. We so appreciate Arroyo’s annual support since we started school book drives in 2016!


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Outpatient Book Delivery Day at CHOC!

Yesterday was our monthly Outpatient Gifting Library re-stocking day at CHOC Children’s Hospital’s Outpatient Infusion Center and at the Oncology Clinic. We delivered 305 new books for patients of all ages ranging from infants/toddlers through teens and young adults, including some specific titles for patients with special requests. We also delivered 20 of our Read Think Thrive Bags that are given out to kids when they are newly diagnosed with cancer; too many infants, toddlers, and teens were diagnosed just in the past ten days — we hope these books will provide some literary joy in the coming weeks and months as these warriors begin their battles. In total, August’s outpatient delivery included 513 new books for patients visiting CHOC for chemotherapy or oncology appointments. Thank you to everyone who contributed to our August Wishlist Fundraiser for easy chapter books; every donation we receive helps to offset the usual amount that we spend to replenish our book bins. If you haven’t had a chance to donate a book from our August fundraiser wishlist, please click HERE.


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Ethan’s August Wishlist Fundraiser – for Easy Chapter Books

Ethan’s August Wishlist Fundraiser is for easy chapter books. Please check out his video!

To donate easy chapter books for patients at CHOC, click on the link below. 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! #augustwishlistfundraiser #easychapterbooks #books4CHOC #readthinkthrive #thrivagainstcancer

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

To become an ECBC GEM: CLICK HERE


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A Most Special Donation!

We just received a wonderful collection of 355 new books from the family and friends of Georgia Kokenge! Georgia is the mother-in-law of longtime and relentless ECBC supporter Fenny Kokenge; before Georgia passed away, she asked for a book drive for ECBC in lieu of flowers like her husband Gene had a few years prior. We created a “Georgia Kokenge Memorial Book Drive” wish list on Amazon for Fenny to share, and as in 2021, the response was magnificent! The books were sent directly to Fenny, and she had all of the titles on display at the celebration of life that she hosted at her home (all bookplated with in memory of Georgia Kokenge stickers and alongside photos of Georgia reading to her grandkids and students). Thank you to Fenny, Jason, and the Kokenge family — we are so grateful that you wanted to honor your beautiful mom in this way. We can’t wait to get these books into the hands of the kids at CHOC who are battling cancer and other life-threatening conditions!