Epilepsy info

Epeleptic is about a kid trying to deal wtih growing up with his epeleptic older brother. some people might not know what epelepsy is about before reading this book. to get a better understanding you should go to this link http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/ in order to get a better understanding of the disease. The following link is a video od doctor Justin C.K. Davis,M.D. talking about epileptics health. http://www.livestrong.com/video/1757-epilepsy-health-byte/

Writing and Media for Background

what is it?

http://www.healingwell.com/Library/epilepsy/article.asp?author=crane&id=1 this article gives some examples that pop up in epileptic people and it shows why David's brother acts really jumpy throughout the book.

These two links will take you to videos that give background on epilepsy and can help you understand what is going on with Jean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNQlq004FkE&feature=fvw



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDccChHrgRA&feature=related


where is it from? who wrote/created it?Healing Well, Article by Amy Crane
the videos are from healthguru.com


in a paragraph or two, why would this be useful to readers before they started reading? what ideas would you want them to think about? how would this piece help get at those ideas? do you agree or disagree with the ideas in the piece?

This article and the videos could help you understand what is going on throughout the book by explaining how epilepsy affects the way David's brother acts. This also helps you understand more of the specifics of how epilepsy not only affects his brother, but his entire family as well. There is also some things that talk about how an epileptic person should or shouldn't be treated, which is one of the main ideas of the book.

Big Ideas

Some things that you might want to look at before reading Epileptic is articles that describe what exactly epilepsy is and what happens to a person when they have epilepsy, like in the article,

"Epilepsy." Microsoft® Student 2006 [CD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2005.

or to see what David B is trying to illustrate in his drawings of his brother having a seizure,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV40H_g-NJo

you also need to understand how having someone in your family having a disease affects the whole family. in the book, David talks about how his brothers epilepsy affects all of his family. It mostly affects the people they live with, but also any family that knows the epileptic person, like described in the following article,

http://www.epilepsyontario.org/client/EO/EOWeb.nsf/web/Epilepsy+and+the+Family

Before You Read Epileptic...

It may not seem like it at first, but the over all theme of the book becomes about David B. and how his brother's epilepsy followed him and basically cursed his life. There was no real way for David to cope with it, and having to do so at such a young age, it haunted his entire life. Today, families can go to Coping-with-Epilepsy.com. Here is a story about a mom who is trying to cope with her 2 year old being diagnosed with epilepsy. That's something I can't even fathom, yet on this forum, people in a similar situation can give their input or advice.

David B mentions that he hates the question "So what's it like to have a seizure?" He feels there is no good way to really describe it. For those who have not seen an epileptic seizure should see this video to get an idea. This was put together by Christine Lowe specifically for educational purposes.

Discussion Question #2

Who would the book appeal to?
What about it is appealing?
What obstacles should student readers of this book be ready for?
What would students need to know about in order to understand the book?
What issues does the book deal with that students might be interested in discussing?
Is there any “mature” content in the book? If so, what kind of content? How would you deal with such content in class?

Respond in the comments, please.

Discussion Question #1

What are some of the strong images of symbolism David B. uses? Why and how does he use them?

Respond in the comments section.

Tiny Bananas Will Rule the World

This book looks like fun. I chose it because I love graphic novels, that's literally the only reason why I did it. I'm not sure how exciting the story will be. I mean, how much fun will result of a story about a kid who has seizures all the time? I don't know, we'll find out...

It looks really crazy which is what I'm looking forward to. Like someone's crazy brain broke from their skull, took up a pen, and started drawing. And writing. But not at the same time. You can't have left and right brain functions going on at the same time or your brain will explode.

I chose the title name because everyone else was putting variations of "Expectations" and I wanted it to be different.