Can I Tell You about Epilepsy? A Guide for Friends, Family, and Professionals. Kate Lambert, $15.95 (ages 7+)

Meet Ellie — a young girl with epilepsy. Ellie invites readers to learn about epilepsy from her perspective. She introduces us to some friends who help present the varying forms of epilepsy. Ellie and her friends help children to understand the obstacles that they face by telling them what it feels like to have epilepsy, how it affects them physically and emotionally, how epilepsy can be treated and how the condition is often misunderstood by people who do not know the facts.

This illustrated book is full of useful information and will be an ideal introduction for children, and will be an excellent starting point for family and classroom discussions.

This concise, accessible handbook for families, friends and carers of children with seizures provides all the information they need to approach seizures from a position of strength. This reassuring, informal, and upbeat book will reinforce and help clarify the discussion with the child’s treating medical professional.

The Cleveland Clinic Guide to Epilepsy. Elaine Wylie, $18.99

Many myths surround epilepsy and it’s hard to separate them from the facts. The Cleveland Clinic Guide to Epilepsy offers the facts, current research and treatment information, insights and inspiring stories. This encouraging book offers guidance to all ages.

Epilepsy Explained: a Book for People Who Want to Know More. M. Reuber, S. Schachter, C. Elger & U. Altrup, $25.50

Filled with illustrations on almost every page and boasting an attractive and stimulating layout, Epilepsy Explained offers a wealth of crystal clear information on epilepsy, intended for patients, family members, friends, and caregivers.

This down-to-earth book is divided into easy-to-digest sections that address such fundamental questions as what epilepsy is, what happens in different types of epileptic seizures, how epilepsy is diagnosed, and how seizures are treated. The book includes information for particular groups of readers such as women, children, and teens. It has an easy-to-follow organization, is clearly structured and has a detailed index and glossary, allowing readers to easily find specific information pertaining to their condition.

Written by physicians who work daily with epilepsy, this clear and engaging book provides people with the knowledge they need to make informed choices about their illness.

Epilepsy in Children: What Every Parent Needs to Know. Orrin Devinsky, with Erin Conway & Courtney Schnabel Glick, $31.95

For the parent of a child with epilepsy, an easy-to-read guide to understanding and managing the disorder while helping your child achieve and maintain a high quality of life. From a leading neurologist, experienced nurse practitioner, and registered dietician comes the complete guide to managing your child is life with epilepsy. Epilepsy in Children offers the practical advice and information you need to manage your childís seizures safely and effectively, understand the latest treatment options, and find hope for a seizure-free future. Key Features:

• Get the right diagnosis for your child and the correct treatment to reduce the frequency of seizures faster
• Learn the benefits and risks of pharmaceutical, surgical, and alternative therapies including the ketogenic diet
• Help your child maintain a normal life at school, with friends, and in sports and other activities
• Navigate the transitions from infancy and childhood, to puberty, to becoming a young adult

In their own words, children and parents vividly describe the experiences of handling the crisis of the initial seizure, adjusting to the diagnosis of epilepsy, coping with seizures, managing medications and side effects, and dealing with health care providers, teachers, schoolmates, siblings, and friends. These accounts provide realistic insights into the myriad issues encountered in living with childhood epilepsy. The book also includes a straightforward medical discussion of childhood seizures; a glossary of medical terms; and a guide for schoolteachers and parents.

Epilepsy and Pregnancy. Stacey Chillemi & Blanca Vazquez, $22.00

An essential guide to any woman with epilepsy who needs clear, reliable information on pregnancy and related issues.

There are many different types of epilepsy, and each type has different behavioral effects and is treated with different methods. This book, written specifically for a teen audience, dispels the myths, misconceptions, and misunderstandings about epilepsy and people who have the disorder. It provides positive, factual medical information and advice for teens on living a normal life by understanding the symptoms; being alert to the signs and factors that precipitate seizures; and educating themselves about treatment methods, medications, and management strategies.

I Have Epilepsy. It Doesn't Have Me. Jamie Bacigalupo & Judy Bacigalupo, illustrated by Inga Shalvashvili, $19.95 (ages 5-9)

Follow eight year old Jamie on her journey from being diagnosed with Benign Rolandic Epilepsy at age five, and see how epilepsy has not stopped her from doing great things!

Keto Kid: Helping Your Child Succeed on the Ketogenic Diet. Deborah Snyder, $22.00

For many children with epilepsy, the only reliable way to control seizures is the ketogenic diet: a mathematically calculated, doctor-supervised plan that strictly limits both calories and liquid intake. KETO KID: HELPING YOUR CHILD SUCCEED ON THE KETOGENIC DIET is a practical guide that enables families to successfully master this nutritional therapy.

Written by Deborah Snyder, a family physician and mother of a four-year-old "keto-kid," the book provides compassionate advice for parents transitioning to a lifestyle where one extra bite of food can have serious repercussions on a child's health. This unique book gives readers the facts about the day-to-day management of the diet, while communicating the emotional struggle encountered by children who must learn self-control at a very young age. This book is an indispensable resource for families embarking on this challenging, but effective, treatment.

The Ketogenic and Modified Atkins Diets: Treatments for Epilepsy and Other Disorders, 6th Edition. Eric Kossoff, et al, $42.95

Now in its sixth edition, The Ketogenic and Modified Atkins Diets is the established, authoritative book on these groundbreaking epilepsy treatments. Written for parents, patients, dietitians, and neurologists, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone considering or starting a ketogenic diet for epilepsy or another neurologic disorder. Chapters cover implementation, recipes, fine-tuning the diets, connecting with support groups, the latest research on the effectiveness of the diets, and much more.

The sixth edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect current advances and applications. Two entirely new sections are devoted to the use of ketogenic diets for epilepsy in adults, and diets that can help alleviate the symptoms of other conditions such as cancer, dementia, autism, and migraines. Coverage of the modified Atkins diet is significantly expanded to reflect the growing popularity of this less restrictive diet.

Life Disrupted is a personal and unflinching guide to living well with a chronic illness: managing your own health care without letting it take over your life, dealing with difficult doctors and frequent hospitalizations, having a productive and satisfying career that accommodates your health needs, and nurturing friendships and a loving, committed relationship regardless of recurring health problems.

Mommy I Feel Funny! A Child’s Experience of Epilepsy. Danielle Rocheford, illustrated by Chris Herrick, $16.95

Mommy, I Feel Funny is based on a true story of Nel, a little girl who experiences having an epileptic seizure for the first time. The story takes you through the days immediately following her first seizure, bringing out Nel’s thoughts, fears and emotions, which are common with the discovery, understanding and acceptance of epilepsy. Having experienced epilepsy first hand for twenty-five years, the author shares her feelings through a child’s eye.

My Daddy Has Epilepsy. Stacey Chillemi, $23.95
My Mommy Has Epilepsy. Stacey Chillemi, $18.95

These two books use simple illustrations and text to explain to children what epilepsy is and what to do when someone is having a seizure.

100 Questions & Answers about Your Child’s Epilepsy. Anuradha Singh, $29.95

An excellent, practical resource for learning about and working with the medical and emotional effects on a child with epilepsy.

Silently Seizing: Common, Unrecognized and Frequently Missed Seizures and Their Potentially Damaging Impact on Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Caren Haines, $28.95

Intersecting at two medical sub-specialties, neurology and psychiatry, the child who has autism and partial seizures is at a serious disadvantage. By inadvertently allowing children's brains to "silently seize," we are robbing children of their ability to function normally. When treated early with anti-seizure medications, many children show amazing gains in expressive language and comprehension. Many begin to speak and learn as many troubling behaviors begin to disappear. Even more important, many children lose their diagnosis of autism. SILENTLY SEIZING includes sections on what autism is, the seizure-autism connection, tips for diagnosing and treating seizures, as well as how to better understand children's behavior.

Sometimes I Get the Wiggles. Andee Cooper & Thomas Hilley, $30.00

Kannon is a little boy with a form of epilepsy that sometimes gives him the wiggles, and when that happens, just like Jell-O, his whole body jiggles. Kannon would very much like to go to school with everyone else his age, but he worries his condition might scare the other children away. After much thought, he comes up with an idea to enlist and train all of his classmates as Seizure Heroes as a way of helping his teacher and his fellow students see him through each school day. Based on a true story and written by Kannon's mother.