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

Tag Archives: ReadThinkThrive


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Outpatient Book Delivery Day!

Today was outpatient book delivery day! ECBC re-stocked our gifting cart at CHOC’s Outpatient Infusion Center (OPI) and our mini library at the Oncology Clinic — gifting a total of 500 new books for patients of all ages, infant through teen/young adult. ECBC also delivered 15 Read Think Thrive Bags, our book bags filled with ten new books and book crafting supplies — to be gifted to patients who are newly diagnosed with cancer. This typical outpatient delivery amounts to a cash value of approximately $7500 and wouldn’t be possible without the support of our community via our annual fundraiser and ongoing throughout the year.

Next up: We are going to need a HUGE amount of Halloween-themed books! Please keep an eye out for our Halloween book drive, or consider hosting your own Halloween book drive at your school, business, philanthropy group, or book club!


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THANK YOU BAUM ORTHO!

Thank you Baum Orthodontics for these 117 new books! Your ongoing book drive and regular donations are such a blessing for ECBC!

Baum Ortho collects books regularly for ECBC, in part by offering patient families deals on their retainer replacements if they donate new books. How AWESOME is that?! ECBC is in need of more partnerships like this with our community to help keep up with the 500-600 new books that we provide to CHOC each month. Please contact us (ali@ECbookclub.com) if you’d like to encourage your clients/customers/patients/community to donate new books and become an ECBC book donation site!

Community partnerships like this one with Baum Ortho are passive bookraising for ECBC and make such a difference for our tiny nonprofit!


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It’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Today is September 1, marking the start of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. EVERY DAY, 47 KIDS IN THE U.S. ARE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER. Every day, 47 families’ lives are flipped completely upside down. If you haven’t signed up FOR BOOK IT yet, please consider joining us on Labor Day in Irvine to help ECBC continue to do our part in helping kids to THRIVE against cancer with high-quality books and reading experiences. In addition to the 1K and 5K walk/runs with t-shirts and medals, there will be local authors and booksellers, terrific food trucks, raffle prizes, and FREE fun for kids including bounce house, face painting, balloon artist, caricature drawings, and photo booth with free prints!

3 DAYS TO GO! PLEASE SIGN UP AT RUNSIGNUP.COM/BOOKIT2023


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13 Days To Go!

BOOK IT 2023 is now 13 days away…and we need 350 more sign-ups to sustain our book and reading programs at CHOC Children’s Hospital. PLEASE HELP by signing up now and/or sharing this with your friends/family/community.

WHAT: BOOK IT! Racing for Reading for Hospitalized Kids

WHEN: Monday, September 4 (Labor Day), 7:00 – 10:00 AM

WHERE: Jeffrey Trail Middle School in Irvine

WHY: To raise money for books and reading at CHOC — ECBC gifts 500-600 new books per month + bedside reading, primarily for patients with cancer and other life-altering illnesses

HOW: Sign up at runsignup.com/BOOKIT2023

WHAT ELSE: Book character costume contest with prizes; 3 great food trucks; fun for kids including bounce house, face painter, balloon artist, caricature artist, photo booth; local authors and booksellers; and a raffle with prizes

CLICK HERETO SIGN UP!


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14 DAYS TO GO!

BOOK IT 2023 is now 14 days away…and we need 350 more sign-ups to sustain our book and reading programs at CHOC Children’s Hospital. PLEASE HELP by signing up now and/or sharing this with your friends/family/community.

WHAT: BOOK IT! Racing for Reading for Hospitalized Kids

WHEN: Monday, September 4 (Labor Day), 7:00 – 10:00 AM

WHERE: Jeffrey Trail Middle School in Irvine

WHY: To raise money for books and reading at CHOC — ECBC gifts 500-600 new books per month + bedside reading, primary for patients with cancer and other life-altering illnesses

HOW: Sign up at runsignup.com/BOOKIT2023

WHAT ELSE: Book character costume contest with prizes; 3 great food trucks; fun for kids including bounce house, face painter, balloon artist, caricature artist, photo booth; local authors and booksellers; and a raffle with prizes

BOOK-IT23-simple-flyer-for-social-mediaDownload


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THANK YOU Cooper!

How amazing is this??! Eagle Scout Cooper from Troop 243 of Santa Ana just completed his Eagle Scout Project, where he built two book donation boxes for ECBC (large logo decals to be affixed on the white side upon arrival). Cooper spent the last few months planning, building, painting, and adding finishing touches to the boxes (with hinges, wheels, and handles). And Cooper and family delivered the boxes yesterday, along with a terrific assortment of new books that he collected through a book drive he hosted. The boxes are well-made and beautiful!

With two additional boxes, ECBC can now have boxes available when multiple book drives are occurring simultaneously, and they will be of great help at our annual fundraiser in September which is a charity run + book drive — they will allow boxes to be placed at various bookseller/author booths for easy donation.

Thank you Cooper for choosing Ethan & Choco’s Book Club for your Eagle Scout Project and for a gift that will make a lasting impact on our nonprofit’s bookraising efforts for Orange County’s hospitalized kids!


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THANK YOU Peters Canyon Elementary

Thank you to Peters Canyon Elementary teacher Elise Hong and her 5th grade class for conducting an impromptu book drive for ECBC in the final two weeks of school!  Elise and her students decorated a book donation box, made posters, and spread the word with the rest of the school — and they collected 88 new books amongst the usual end-of-school year craziness!  These books will  be going directly to kids at CHOC Children’s Hospital next week!  Thank you to all PCE families who donated, and ECBC is looking forward to a continuing partnership with Peters Canyon! 


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THANK YOU Grace Lutheran School!

Thank you Grace Lutheran School, Huntington Beach, for hosting a third consecutive book drive for ECBC and collecting 142 terrific books! A special shout out to the awesome middle school students who conducted the book drive — including making posters and collection boxes as well as manning a book donation table for a week before and after school. Also, thank you to Joi Vutpakdi for rallying the kids behind our cause and for her work to help the kids make their book drive a success. THANK YOU GRACE LUTHERAN!