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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Thank You El Dorado High School!

Thank you to El Dorado High School (Placentia, CA) for your awesome donation this month of 162 new books and monetary donation of $360! And a special thank you to EDHS’s Books 4 CHOC Club led by President Leila Do for all of your hard work in leading the book drive as well as the fundraiser at Handel’s. You collected a terrific bunch of high quality books for patients of all ages, including many of our most needed book types such as board books, graphic novels, and beginning reading books. This was Books 4 CHOC’s first year in existence since they founded their club in the fall of 2023, and they have had a productive first year of making literacy support items (i.e., bookmarks, literary-themed holiday cards) as well as hosting book drives and fundraisers. THANK YOU Books 4 CHOC!

If you are a high school student and interested in starting your own high school support club for ECBC and Orange County’s hospitalized kids, please send an email to ali@ECbookclub.com. Founding and running a club can be a great way to support your local community as well as gain impactful leadership experience!


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Ethan’s July Wishlist Fundraiser – for Book Crafting Supplies

Ethan’s July Wishlist Fundraiser is for book crafting supplies. Please check out his video!

To donate crafting supplies 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! #julywishlistfundraiser #bookcrafting #books4CHOC #readthinkthrive #thrivagainstcancer

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

To become an ECBC GEM: CLICK HERE


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Outpatient Book Delivery Day at CHOC!

Today was our monthly Outpatient Gifting Library re-stocking day at CHOC Children’s Hospital Outpatient Infusion Center and at the Oncology Clinic. We delivered 352 new books of all types for patients of all ages ranging from infants/toddlers through teens and young adults. Thank you to everyone who contributed to our June Wishlist Fundraiser for nonfiction/informational books. Every donation we receive helps to offset the usual amount that we spend to replenish our book bins. If you’d like to contribute to our July Wishlist Fundraiser for bookcrafting supplies, please click HERE.


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THANK YOU Baum Orthodontics!

We just picked up 160 books from Baum Ortho, who has collected books for ECBC on an ongoing basis for FIVE years now. Most books are donated through their retainer replacement program, where patients who have lost their retainer receive a greatly discounted price for their replacement retainer if they donate some new children’s books. How ingenious (and generous of Baum and co) is that?!

Baum Orthodontics is of several of ECBC’s Community Thrive Partners, which are community businesses who continue to support ECBC from year to year. We give out 500-600 new books per month to kids at CHOC Children’s Hospital, and these partnerships (along with our Thrive Partner Schools) are how we keep our gifting programs going. Thrive Partners are especially helpful for our tiny all volunteer-based nonprofit organization because they provide our charity with much-needed passive bookraising opportunities. Thank you Baum Ortho (and Baum Ortho families) for your incredible ongoing support!

If you are a Tustin or nearby business and interested in having a book collection box onsite, or if you are a philanthropic organization and want to host a book drive, please email ali@ECbookclub.com. Per hospital infectious disease rules, all books must be brand new.


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THANK YOU Grace Lutheran School!

Thank you Grace Lutheran School in Huntington Beach for hosting a FOURTH consecutive book drive for ECBC and collecting 136 terrific books! A special shout out to the awesome middle school students who conducted the book drive —they make their own posters and collection boxes; man a book donation table for a week before and after school; promote the book drive; and then count, sort, and deliver the books. Thank you to all the Grace Lutheran families who donated, and a special thank you to Joi Vutpakdi for her commitment to ECBC and coordinating this wonderful effort year after year.

We so appreciate our small handful of repeat donor (AKA “Thrive Partner Schools”) who host book drives for us annually. It is a TREMENDOUS help to have some bookraising happen that doesn’t require ECBC’s exceptionally limited resources in order to make happen. Grace Lutheran, and our few other Thrive Partner Schools and businesses — you are a true blessing to our tiny nonprofit!


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ECBC at the OC Book Fair!

ECBC had a terrific day yesterday at the OC Book Fair in Old Town Tustin, hosted by the Tustin Literary Foundation and Arvida Book Co. This inaugural event included indie bookstores, publishers, local nonprofits, food trucks, and a fantastic turnout of hundreds of literature enthusiasts. We had an impressive number of people stop by the ECBC booth — and most seemed genuinely interested in learning about our cause. We didn’t collect many books, but we did lots of sharing about our programs, engaged many kids in writing personal Care Cards for the cancer warriors who receive our new diagnosis book bags, and ended up with a long list of names of people who are interested in becoming a bedside reader at CHOC. And, Ethan enjoyed kicking off the day on stage by reading aloud a story and sharing about ECBC with the audience. Thank you to Leah of Alternating Current Press for her generous donation of poetry and short fiction for our teens and young adult patients, and we so appreciate our amazing bedside readers Theresa, Derek, and Joy for joining us to help run our booth. And a big thank you to Arvida owners Sam and Mike for inviting ECBC to be part of this special day. It’s so fun to see our community gather and connect around all things bookish, while supporting local businesses as well! We look forward to being back next year!

Ethan on stage at OC Book Fair 2024


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Outpatient Delivery Day at CHOC Children’s Hospital!

This week was our monthly outpatient gifting library re-stocking day at both the Outpatient Infusion Center and the Oncology Clinic at CHOC Children’s Hospital.  We delivered 425 new books of all types for patients of all ages ranging from infants/toddlers through teens and young adults, including some specific titles by special request from a few patients. We also delivered 20 of our Read Think Thrive Book Bags for kids at CHOC to receive after they are diagnosed with cancer (meaning there have been 20 new cancer diagnoses at CHOC in the past month) — which means that we delivered a total of 627 new books plus crafting supplies and other literacy support materials that are in the book bags. We hope these books inspire some summer reading among CHOC patients!

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our May and JuneWishlist Fundraisers for Beginning Reading books and informational books. Every donation we receive helps to offset the usual amount that we spend to replenish our book bins. Please watch out for our upcoming July Wishlist Fundraiser, to be announced in a few days!

summer reading!


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Ethan’s June Wishlist Fundraiser — for Nonfiction Informational Books

Ethan’s June Wishlist Fundraiser is for Informational books. Please check out his video!

To donate an informational book, 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! #junewishlistfundraiser #informationalbooks #books4CHOC #readthinkthrive #thrivagainstcancer

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

To become an ECBC GEM: CLICK HERE


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Thank you Olga — We have Spanish books now!

Repeat ECBC supporter Olga just completed a “birthday book drive”, where she asked her friends and family to donate books for ECBC in honor of her birthday! She focused on collecting Spanish-language books by sharing an Amazon wish list with Spanish titles that ECBC provided her. Olga collected and delivered 143 new Spanish-language books! This equates to several months worth of Spanish book donations to CHOC patients — saving us hundreds of dollars on our usual Spanish book expenses!

This was Olga’s third targeted book drive/book donation, “targeted” meaning that she focuses on collecting a specific book type. Last year Olga collected books for teens and young adults, and the prior year Olga ran her first birthday book drive — also for Spanish-language books. Targeted book drives rarely happen, but when they do, they are particularly helpful because they provide ECBC with a collection of books that we most need — which greatly helps to offset book purchasing costs.

If you are interested in hosting your own targeted book drive (e.g., poetry, board books, books addressing a specific theme such as kindness or bravery) in honor of your birthday or for another special event, you can email us at ali@ECbookclub.com. We can provide the wish list with link to share.

Thank you Olga for helping hospitalized kids to have Spanish-language books. We so appreciate you!


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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!


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Introducing Ethan’s Targeted Wishlist Fundraisers!

Happy February! Ethan is starting monthly “Targeted Wishlist Fundraisers” to help ECBC get book types and other items that we need the most. His February wish list fundraiser is for board books. Please check out his video below! To donate a board 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! #februarywishlistfundraiser #boardbooks #books4CHOC #readthinkthrive #thrivagainstcancer

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