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

Category Archives: Book Drive


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Thank You CarterStrong!

Thank you CarterStrongForever for your Recent CarterStrongForever Bucket List Book Drive and the books you just donated to ECBC. This is CarterStrong’s last donation directly to ECBC as a nonprofit entity, so we’d like to express how much we’ve cherished the partnership with the Ankeny family and CarterStrongForever for the past nine years. We remember back to 6-year-old Carter’s first Bucket List Book Drive in 2017, just after he relapsed, and the awesome 700 books that we received. After that initial donation, ECBC created a CarterStrongForever wish list of 100 titles to represent Carter — his kindness, humor, bravery, love for baseball, and love for superheroes especially Captain America. It has been such an honor to be able to play a tiny part in carrying on Carter’s legacy by sharing Carter’s books with hospitalized patients — especially oncology kiddos. Thank you CSF for letting ECBC help to celebrate Carter over the years.

And, we look forward to helping to continue to share Carter’s favorite books in the future through an ECBC funded outpatient Book Nook at CHOC — more on this to come!


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Thank You, Again, NCL North Tustin!

Thank you NCL North Tustin for hosting yet another book drive, this time a Halloween book drive, and your usual amazing results! ECBC just received NCL’s donation of 258 new books — 236 of them specifically Halloween-themed for ECBC’s upcoming Halloween book gifting events at CHOC. Also, every book came with a handmade Halloween-themed bookmark, many of them so beautifully done!

A special thank you to Ali, Kendall, and Haley Langdon for organizing the book drive, collecting/bookplating/sorting the books, and delivering them!

THANK YOU NCL for your ongoing support of ECBC! Over the past several years, you have donated more than $11,000 worth of new books; you have helped CHOC patients to read, think, and thrive through life-altering treatment and long hospital stays. We have so appreciated you!


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Final Opportunity to Donate a Book to ECBC!

Please help ECBC celebrate ten years of impact at CHOC Children’s Hospital by supporting Ethan’s LAST Halloween book drive and ECBC’s LAST book gifting event — BOO-ks for Treats! Click below to hear from Ethan.

To donate a book, go to:
https://bit.ly/Halloweenbooks4ECBC


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Thank You Hicks Canyon!

THANK YOU Hicks Canyon Elementary School for conducting yet another book drive for ECBC, and for the 80 terrific books that you donated this week! This was your 4th consecutive year collecting books for ECBC, and at two book drives per year — your seventh book drive! Your commitment to helping our cause has helped us so much the last several years, and we are so grateful!  A very special thank you to Tina Jussal for making this (and every) Hicks book drive happen! #thrivepartnerschool #books4CHOC #readthinkthrive #thriveagainstcancer


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Ethan’s Last Wishlist Fundraiser!

Please check out Ethan’s last Wishlist Fundraiser, his online book drives that he has been conducting since 2016! To donate a book in honor of his final book drive and the tens of thousands of books that his online book drives have brought to hospitalized kids over the years, go to: https://bit.ly/wishlist_booklooks. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported Ethan’s virtual book drives to help him to get books and reading to kids battling cancer and other life-altering illness!


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Thank You NCL North Tustin!

THANK YOU to National Charity League North Tustin for your June book drive and your INCREDIBLE effort! ECBC just received NCL’s donation of 444 new books of EVERY type, including board books, picture books, learn-to-read books, nonfiction/information books, graphic novels, easy chapter books, middle grade chapter books, teen/YA books, Spanish-language books, and poetry! Also, every book came with an inserted beautiful handmade bookmark — a bookmark per book is such a cool gesture that we’ve never received before! And a special thank you to Ali, Kendall, and Haley Langdon for organizing the book drive, collecting/bookplating/sorting the books, and delivering them!  We so appreciate NCL North Tustin’s ongoing support!


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Ethan’s Wishlist Fundraiser for June 2025

Please check out Ethan’s monthly Wishlist Fundraiser for board books! You can listen to Ethan’s video below to learn more. To donate a book, click on the link below or go to https://bit.ly/wishlist_boardbooks.

To become an ECBC GEM (Give Every Month and commit to a monthly donation, click HERE.

Thank you for helping Orange County’s hospitalized kids to thrive with high-quality books and reading experiences!


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Ethan’s Wishlist Fundraiser for May 2025

Please check out Ethan’s monthly Wishlist Fundraiser for books with disability representation! You can listen to Ethan’s video below to learn more. To donate a book, click on the link below or go to https://bit.ly/wishlist_disability. Also, as always, we are in great need of board books and need to purchase them on a weekly basis, so we always appreciate getting these donated!

To donate a book with disability representation, click HERE.

To donate a board book, click HERE.

To become an ECBC GEM (Give Every Month and commit to a monthly donation, click HERE.


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Ethan’s Wishlist Fundraiser for April 2025

Please check out Ethan’s monthly Wishlist Fundraiser for wordless picture books! You can listen to Ethan’s video below to learn more. To donate a book, click on the link below or go https://bit.ly/wishlist_wordlesspicturebooks. Also, as always, we are in great need of board books and need to purchase them on a weekly basis, so we always appreciate getting these donated!

To donate a wordless picture book, click HERE.

To donate a board book, click HERE.

To become an ECBC GEM (Give Every Month and commit to a monthly donation, click HERE.


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Thank you AGAIN Hicks Canyon Elementary!

THANK YOU Hicks Canyon Elementary School PTA and families for hosting a SECOND book drive this year for ECBC and for your donation this past week of 83 new books. Per Hicks’ usual donation, the collection included all wonderful high-interest titles, including many graphic novels and easy chapter 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).

This was Hicks’ second book drive of the school year to benefit ECBC — resulting in a total of 176 new books during the 2024-2025 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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Ethan’s Wishlist Fundraiser for March 2025

Please check out Ethan’s monthly Wishlist Fundraiser! One book type we currently need for both our bedside reading program and our book gifting programs at CHOC is nonfiction picture books. You can listen to Ethan’s video below to learn more. To donate a book, click on the link below or go to bit.ly/wishlist_nonfictionpicturebooks. Also, as always, we are in great need for board books and need to purchase them on a weekly basis, so we always appreciate getting these donated!

To donate a nonfiction picture book, click HERE.

To donate a board book, click HERE.

To become an ECBC GEM and commit to a monthly donation, click HERE


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Ethan’s Wishlist Fundraiser for February 2025

Please check out Ethan’s monthly Wishlist Fundraiser! This fundraiser is for the special list of books that go in ECBC’s Read Think Thrive Bags, which are the bags that we deliver to kids at CHOC just after they are diagnosed with cancer. You can listen to Ethan’s video below to learn more. To donate a book, click on the link below or go to https://bit.ly/wishlist_RTTbagbooks. Also, as always, we are in great need for board books and need to purchase them on a weekly basis, so we always appreciate getting these donated!

To donate a book for ECBC’s Read Think Thrive Bags, click HERE.

To donate a board book, click HERE.

To become an ECBC GEM and commit to a monthly donation, click HERE


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Ethan’s Wishlist Fundraiser for January 2025

Please check out Ethan’s monthly Wishlist Fundraiser! One book type we currently need at CHOC is picture books for older kids and teenagers. You can listen to Ethan’s video below to learn more. To donate a book, click on the link below or go to bit.ly/wishlist_picturebooks4teens. Also, as always, we are in great need for board books and need to purchase them on a weekly basis, so we always appreciate getting these donated!

To donate a picture book for older kids and teens, click HERE.

To donate a board book, click HERE.

To become an ECBC GEM and commit to a monthly donation, click HERE


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Ethan’s December Wishlist Fundraiser – for Graphic Novels

Ethan’s December Wishlist Fundraiser is for graphic novels. Please check out his video!

To donate graphic novels 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! #decemberwishlistfundraiser #graphicnovels #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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THANK YOU OKI International!

Earlier this month, we received an AWESOME donation of 324 new holiday books from OKI International’s Cypress office, who held the most amazing and thoughtfully planned book drive ever! To launch the book drive, OKI employees were invited to their conference room, where they (1) found out which Christmas book team they were on (e.g., The Polar Express, The Night Before Christmas, The Christmas Carol, etc); (2) selected paper tags with book titles and images that were hanging around the room in order to commit to purchase specific titles; (3) learned about OKI’s incentives (e.g., a luncheon for the team with the most books, raffle tickets for luncheon opportunities for every team that donates at least 40 books, additional raffle tickets for every employee who donates 3+ books with opportunities to win $100 prizes); and (4) received milk and cookies! All six teams met the 40 book goal, and as a whole, their system of printing book title tags helped to ensure the best variety across all book types. THANK YOU to OKI employees for your participation and donations, and for contributing significantly to the hundreds of books we’ve given to hospitalized kids over the last couple weeks. And a huge thank you to Kayla Dang and Beth Ferrari for all your work to organize this impressive effort! Finally, thank you Rose Vu for taking this on and getting the ball rolling!

We have found that book drives that include friendly competition tend to be the most successful — what an amazing model this provides! ECBC needs more businesses like OKI!


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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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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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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!