Emma Rashes

Lily the Llama Helps Her Herd: A Children’s Book to Combat Vaccine Hesitancy

Project Description

Growing up, I loved reading and made frequent trips to the wonderful public library in my city. My understanding of and excitement about topics like dinosaurs, owls, and mummies was always enhanced by well-written and illustrated children’s literature. During high school and college, I developed a passion for advancing educational equity, especially early literacy, which I have pursued through my engagement in the Ravenswood Reads program at Stanford. I kept my Ravenswood Reads students in mind as I embarked on the journey of writing Lily the Llama Helps Her Herd, combining my interests in education, science, and medicine.

I also grew up in close proximity to anti-vaxxers and vaccine-hesitant people. I remember the positive example that my parents and family pediatrician set, teaching me, from a young age, about the role vaccinations play in ensuring my own safety and public health. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, I became increasingly aware of the abundance of anti-vaccine information and the lack of pro-vaccine scientific resources targeted at families. I knew that preparing for the rollout of a vaccine would be key to building herd immunity around the globe and started to think of ways that I could play an advocacy role in promoting the importance and safety of vaccines. In addition, from very early on in the pandemic rates of routine childhood vaccinations have also been dropping, putting communities in our country at risk for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease when children return to in-person school. I hope that Lily the Llama Helps Her Herd can play a role in combating vaccine hesitancy and serve as an educational resource for families.

Lily the Llama Helps Her Herd is a rhyming children’s picture book designed as an educational resource to teach children about herd immunity, explaining the importance of vaccination for their own health and for protecting their loved ones and communities. The book and other related links can be found here online.

About the Artist

Emma Rashes is a senior and coterminal master's student at Stanford University where she is studying biology. She has always loved science and hopes to pursue a career in medicine. Emma wrote Lily the Llama Helps Her Herd to share her love of science and teach others about the importance of vaccination!

Explore Emma's project online