Meet Tootz the neuron! Tootz lives inside Jayden and sends messages to the brain
to help him complete certain actions. 

Jayden loves to dance, but he sometimes makes movements he can’t control ornoises that seem strange. Jayden has Tourette Syndrome.

Find out more about Tourette Syndrome and tics, how they affect Jayden and about Tootz the neuron in this informative, compact book looking at neurons and Tourette Syndrome.

Marielle Bayliss is a London-based author from the North East who comes to writing from a theatrical background. As an actress and singer for over twenty years, her career has covered number-one tours of musicals and plays, radio, commercials, children’s nursery rhyme albums, and numerous voiceovers and audiobooks. Marielle is the author of the rhyming picture books Frog’s Bog and Frog in a Fog, both published by Graffeg.

The Neurons series has been a project in the works for many years, inspired in part by Marielle’s own experiences of living with Epilepsy as a child and adult.

Kellyanne Thorne is an artist and illustrator currently based in London. After completing a fine art degree with a specialism in sculpture, she began a career in teaching which she left after several years to raise her children. During this time Kellyanne began creating her own work and rediscovered her love of drawing finding inspiration from the beauty within our natural world.

She regularly exhibits at well-established Art fairs and has completed a variety of commercial and private commissions. The Neuron series is a passion project due to Kellyanne’s background in education but especially as her son has both Autism and DCD.

“I like how it teaches people about what Tourette’s is and how people express it. I like how it us to not make someone feel bad if they have it’

 “If people are educated on it, it would make people with Tourettes feel less alone and more people would be able to help them.”

“Everyone needs to know how these conditions affect others everyday lives.” 

Reviews from children at Victoria CP School