diff --git a/bin/c8.js b/bin/c8.js
index dd81d2d6..c78fe58b 100755
--- a/bin/c8.js
+++ b/bin/c8.js
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 'use strict'
 
-const fs = require('fs')
 const foreground = require('foreground-child')
 const { outputReport } = require('../lib/commands/report')
+const mkdirp = require('mkdirp')
 const { promisify } = require('util')
 const rimraf = require('rimraf')
 const {
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ let argv = buildYargs().parse(instrumenterArgs)
     if (argv.clean) {
       await promisify(rimraf)(argv.tempDirectory)
     }
-    await promisify(fs.mkdir)(argv.tempDirectory, { recursive: true })
+    // allow c8 to run on Node 8 (coverage just won't work).
+    await promisify(mkdirp)(argv.tempDirectory)
 
     process.env.NODE_V8_COVERAGE = argv.tempDirectory
     foreground(hideInstrumenterArgs(argv), async (done) => {
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 1058418a..095f5046 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -2505,7 +2505,6 @@
       "version": "0.5.1",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/mkdirp/-/mkdirp-0.5.1.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha1-MAV0OOrGz3+MR2fzhkjWaX11yQM=",
-      "dev": true,
       "requires": {
         "minimist": "0.0.8"
       }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 47fbfc38..e353f20c 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
     "istanbul-lib-coverage": "^2.0.1",
     "istanbul-lib-report": "^2.0.1",
     "istanbul-reports": "^2.0.0",
+    "mkdirp": "^0.5.1",
     "rimraf": "^2.6.2",
     "test-exclude": "^5.0.0",
     "v8-to-istanbul": "^3.1.1",