The Tallest Leprechaun – A Tall Tale of Terrible Teasing

Being tall would certainly make it hard to fit in with a smaller crowd like a group of tiny leprechauns.

In a book written and illustrated by 11-year-old Emily Koenig, she teaches an important lesson about the importance of respecting others for their differences. This cute story book, The Tallest Leprechaun, was published in 2003, just after Emily’s untimely death from bacterial meningitis in December of 2002. She completed the work as part of a school project and her parents had the book published to carry on her message about diversity.

The book is entertaining, cleverly written, and it focuses on the value that every unique individual has to offer. Many school counselors and teachers in and around Chester County, where Emily attended school, currently use this book to teach young children about treating others with respect. The book also provides inspiration for other children to write and illustrate their own stories. The Koenigs have also been using Emily’s book to inform other
parents about a preventive vaccine to protect their children from the disease that took Emily’s life.

Recently, due in part to the efforts of the Koenigs and other parents who lost their children to bacterial meningitis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices have expanded their recommendation guidelines for meningococcal disease immunizations to include all adolescents 11-18 years of age. These new recommendations were in light of the increased risk of disease among this age group.

The Koenigs have partnered with the Childhood Education Coalition of Chester County to help continue their outreach to schools and parents of young children in surrounding communities with funding through the Emily Koenig Memorial Fund at the Philadelphia Foundation. The mission of the CECCC is to raise public consciousness about high quality early care and education for families in Chester County, and is supported by a partnership network of parents, early care and education practitioners, schools, the business community and the public. Since the Koenig’s goal is to educate schools and families by teaching good values, encourage new young writers, and to provide the most currently approved information about bacterial meningitis and its preventive vaccine, the partnership with the CECCC provides a natural fit.

The Koenigs would like to encourage you to take an active role in this process by helping to distribute Emily’s book along with associated information on bacterial meningitis. Download this order form to pick up your copy of The Tallest Leprechaun today!