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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BOO-ks for Treats at CHOC, Part 2

Today, was CHOC’s annual trick-or-treating event for all kids who are inpatient on Halloween. ECBC delivered 225 Halloween bags filled with two books per patient (so, 450 books), with all books being high-quality Halloween-themed and curated by the age and gender of the recipient. Book bags are also being given to kids visiting the ER through the evening of Halloween — hopefully they add some literary cheer on a night that no kid wants to end up in the ER! These 450 books, along with the 357 delivered to CHOC Outpatient last week, amount to more than 800 Halloween books delivered to CHOC patients!

On this day eight years ago, Ethan’s (ECBC’s co-founder) port was surgically placed in his chest and he received his first dose of chemo, beginning his 3.5 years of treatment for Leukemia. On this day, he also dressed up in a Halloween costume with his siblings and trick-or-treated in the hospital lobby. So Halloween at CHOC has always held a special place in our heart, and being able to contribute halloween books to this event is a treat for ECBC as well. THANK YOU to all of our book donors who contributed to our Halloween book drive. A special shout out to Orange Chamber of Commerce, Fenny’s Flowers, Andersen Elementary School, and Brian and Carrie Bullard for your significant contributions! Thank you also to our $500 level BOOK IT donors who each funded approximately 50 books of this donation. All donors were recognized with their names on respective bookplates in each book. Happy Halloween!


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HALLOWEEN BOOKS DELIVERED!

Today we dropped off BOO-ks for Treats bags for 200 patients (each bag filled with two Halloween-themed books curated by age and gender) to CHOC Children’s for their reverse trick-or-treating event on Friday (as well as for CHOC Mission Hills patients). These 400 books along with the 200 delivered last week to CHOC’s Outpatient Infusion Center and the Oncology clinic (see included picture of post from one of our outpatient recipients) amount to 600 Halloween books delivered! We pride ourselves on providing both high-quality and high-interest age-appropriate literature so hopefully all patients from toddlers through teens and young adults will include some reading in their Halloween celebrations this year!

THANK YOU to all of our book donors who made it possible for ECBC to provide literary treats for every patient at CHOC and help kids to read, think, and THRIVE through their hospital stay. Thank you also to our $500 level BOOK IT donors who each funded approximately 50 books of this donation. All donors were recognized with their names on respective bookplates in each book. Happy Halloween! #BOOks4Treats #reversetrickortreating #braincandy #readthinkthrive #cognitivehealth #ecbc #chocchildrens


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BOO-ks for Treats Delivered!

Today ECBC delivered 200 bags of Halloween “BOO-KS for Treats” (500 books) to CHOC Children’s Hospital for their reverse trick-or-treating event on Friday. We delivered another 100 books to CHOC’s Outpatient Infusion for our library cart, so that kids coming in for infusions will also receive Halloween books. We will miss participating in CHOC’s usual trick-or-treating event but we are so happy to be able to contribute to CHOC’s Halloween celebration this year. A big THANK YOU to everyone who donated Halloween-themed books, and a huge thank you to Behr Paint for conducting a corporate book drive and donating about 115 of the books. And, a special thank you to the Antonius Family, Bill and Royce Bellaty, Enderle Center, Fenny’s Flowers, Peter Royston, and the Stahl Family for your BOOK IT2020 donations that were allocated specifically to funding Halloween books — your donations were used to purchase the remainder of the books that we needed for this event (all book-plated with you names on them). Finally, thank you to our awesome Board members and Programs Committee Mary Kay Viscounty, Sandy Tweedt, and Anne Case for your help in coordinating the Behr book drive and assembling all supplies!


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Storytime with Ethan & Choco: Creepy Carrots

This week’s storytime being aired on CHOC Children’s Hospital radio — Creepy Carrots, a story that perfectly balances scary and funny with a satisfying twist ending, wonderful for Halloween and all year long! Click below to view Ethan’s read-aloud. To donate this awesome picture book or other Halloween-themed books for ECBC’s Halloween book deliveries as part of CHOC’s reverse trick-or-treating event, CLICK HERE.


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Storytime with Ethan & Choco: The Widow’s Broom

This week’s storytime being aired on CHOC Children’s Hospital radio — The Widow’s Broom, a clever story that evoke’s pleasurable shudders for ALL ages, perfect for Halloween and all year long! Click below to view Ethan’s read-aloud. To donate this awesome picture book or other Halloween-themed books for ECBC’s Halloween book deliveries as part of CHOC’s reverse trick-or-treating event, CLICK HERE. We are hoping for 30 copies of this book for older kids at CHOC and need a total of 500 books for this event!

Click above for The Widow’s Broom storytime


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Storytime with Ethan & Choco: Room on the Broom

Today’s storytime being aired on CHOC Children’s Hospital radio today — Room on the Broom, an all-time family favorite on Halloween and all year long! Ethan’s dad read the book aloud for old time’s sake to get Ethan in the mood for his recording…and I think they enjoyed it as much as they used to (see clip below)! Click below to view Ethan’s read-aloud. To donate this awesome picture book or other Halloween-themed books for ECBC’s Halloween book deliveries as part of CHOC’s reverse trick-or-treating event, CLICK HERE. We are hoping for 40 copies of this book and need a total of 500 books for this event!

Ethan’s Room on the Broom read-aloud
ECBC Co-founder Ethan’s dad reads aloud Room on the Broom — 11 and 13 year olds still find this book fun!


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Halloween Book Drive for CHOC Patients!

It’s hard to believe that Halloween is just around the corner, and ECBC needs your help with Halloween-themed book donations! Annually on Halloween, ECBC has joined in with CHOC Children’s Hospital’s trick-or-treating event by hosting a “BOO-ks for Treats” booth alongside the many other booths that give away candy, small toys, and other treats. This is a super special event for ECBC co-founder Ethan, who was diagnosed with Leukemia on October 28 (2014) and began his chemotherapy on October 31, while still getting to dress up and trick-or-treat in the hospital. In 2014, there were no books at this event, so Ethan is so proud to be able to provide a literary treat as part of the loot that patients receive on Halloween. 

This year, per Covid safety precautions, CHOC’s Halloween event will happen in “reverse trick-or-treating” style, with CHOC staff delivering goodies directly to each patient room. ECBC has agreed to provide Halloween book baggies to each patient, consisting of 2 age-appropriate Halloween books per bag. We also hope to deliver Halloween books to kids visiting the Outpatient Infusion Center for an infusion in the couple weeks leading up to Halloween. Which means ECBC needs 500-600 books! Please help by donating a book or two if you can! We especially need online book donations this year, as in the past years ECBC has received a few hundred of our Halloween books from school book drives and book fairs, which we are not getting this year. You can donate by clicking ON THIS LINK to our Halloween Wish List on Amazon:   All books purchased from this list will be sent directly to ECBC and bookplated with donor names. THANK YOU for helping ECBC help OC’s kids who are stuck at CHOC on Halloween to thrive with awesome literature!