A young author turns her challenges into a literary triumph

Last Monday, I found myself in a situation like no other I’ve encountered in my half century of journalism: as an author, interviewing an author, while the author’s grandmother, also an author, looks on.

It was an authors’ convention in the living room of a River Road-area house that backs up to a beautiful greenbelt to the west.

“So,” I said to the young author across from me, “there are three authors in this room. Which one of us is your favorite?”

She glanced at me, then smiled warmly at her grandmother.

“I’d have to say, well, me,” said the 11-year-old girl.

I loved her candor. Her decisiveness. Her slight touch of impishness.

Meet Eliza Kelley, a Eugene girl who, as a Madison Middle School sixth grader, has already had two award-winning books published and is working on a third.

Who, despite her early experience as the life of an author, aspires to ultimately wind up acting on Broadway.

And who, not incidentally, has managed such success despite a challenge that only roughly 1 in 250 children face: She has Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary, repetitive movements and sounds known as tics.

Even the afternoon of our interview, she had been bullied when her “tics” kicked in on her way home from school.

“It happens regularly,” said Debra Whiting Alexander, her grandmother and author of a couple of dozen books. “It likely always will.”

In fact, Eliza and “Nanny” decided to write the first book, “Eliza Jane Finds Her Hero,” to help people understand children with Tourette, to alleviate their fears, and, of course, to have fun imagining a superhero friend known as Tinklelocks and a talking dog named Archie.

Finally, to be courageous.

“Because,” as the two write, “all Eliza Jane ever wanted was to be brave. And not to wrestle snortin’ alligators by the tail. Eliza Jane wanted to be brave to hear the things she pretended not to. Things like, ‘It’s so strange the way she whistles, isn’t it?’ and ‘Look at the way she hops. It’s not normal,’ and ‘That girl needs to quit rolling her eyes. It’s weird.’”

Eliza, the daughter of Kevin Kelley and Debra’s daughter Katelyn, was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome at age 8. In many ways, she found the diagnosis freeing. Until then, Eliza was caught in a world where she was confused by two things: a body that involuntarily did things she didn’t tell it to and people around her who often treated her cruelly because of it.

“I hated feeling different and knowing I was different from all my friends,” she told me. “I wanted to be like everyone else. After I found out what I had, I still didn’t want it, but then everyone understood better, and things got less difficult for me at school.”

But not easy.

“I have been bullied, called bad names and had unkind words used against me off and on all through elementary school. It usually happened on the playground and was happening every day for a while.”

Sometimes she was physically hurt, too, like when some boys would trip her on purpose and then make fun of her.

“One time, a teacher threatened me with detention at lunchtime because she thought I was being disruptive in class on purpose. Once I explained to her that I had tics from Tourette’s, she understood and it was fine.”

Said Debra: “Fortunately, Eliza has a supportive group of friends and loves her school. Seeing a person’s tics and their behavior change can feel scary to some. 

“But when we see adults laughing at or mocking those who are different, it is especially damaging — and there’s no excuse for it. Our hope is that after reading our books, more kids will help educate the adults who need it.” 

When, in May of 2024, Katelyn took her daughter to the Tic-Con conference in Dallas, sponsored by the Tourette Association of America, it buoyed Eliza’s confidence.

“It was the first time I’d spent time, four days, with people just like me,” she said. “We all had tics and no one cared.”

Her grandmother, Debra, has a Ph.D. in psychology and spent decades as a mental health therapist. She has written both nonfiction and fiction books, all with mental health themes. But it was less her resume than her willingness to dream with her granddaughter that led to the first book.

A voracious reader from the get-go, Eliza came to Debra four years ago with an idea.

“She and I engaged in hours of pretend play when she was younger, which included her make-believe secret superhero she named ‘Tinklelocks,’” said Debra. “She said, ‘Hey Nanny, why don’t we write one of your books together? And make it about a superhero, only this girl superhero has Tourette’s.’ Of course, I responded by pointing out her pure brilliance.”

At sleepovers, fortified with lots of snacks, Debra and Eliza began brainstorming the story they might tell. Some of it was patterned after Eliza’s real life; her therapy dog, Archie, for example, has a starring role in the book, although the fictionalized Archie has a superpower.

“I say whatever you need to hear,” he tells Eliza Jane in the book. “But don’t tell anyone. Nobody would believe it.”

When a girl at school complains that “it’s not fair” that Eliza Jane got to have a dog at school, Archie tells Eliza Jane, “She’s wrong. It’s always fair when people get what they need. And lucky for me, you need me.”

Archie teaches her to stand up for herself.

“Don’t be a bystander,” he tells her. “Be a defender!”

I don’t want to give away the plot, but I will tell you Archie is dognapped at one point and Eliza Jane gives chase on her beloved horse, Popcorn. 

If Archie seems the wise one early in the story, it is Eliza Jane who emerges as such near the end. At one point, she goes nose-to-nose with someone who has bullied her friend, Jacob:

“You treat him like his hurt feelings don’t even count. But they do. Everyone’s feelings count! And news flash — not all people act the same way.”

When I met Eliza last week, it was as if I were seeing her mother, Katelyn, who was about her age when she lived one house away from us here in Eugene in the early 1990s.

What an amazing road they’ve traveled. And what a serendipitous twist that Eliza’s grandmother, Debra, became her writing partner.

One of Eliza’s goals in writing the first book was to win a “gold medal” book award, which she did. “Eliza Jane Finds Hero” has won 10 awards, including “Best Children’s Book of the Year” in the Reviewers Choice Awards.

Eliza and Debra’s second book, published in 2025, was “Eliza Jane Finds Her Dog Squad.” It has won six awards so far.

And the third will be “Eliza Jane Finds Her Wings,” in which she and her friend Jacob, from book one, take their first flight ever, traveling cross-country without grownups. 

For every book sold, the authors make an annual cash donation to the Tourette Association of America. In addition, they have donated copies to free libraries in the community. The rest of their proceeds go into Eliza’s savings account.

Nothing has happened yet on the movie front, but I won’t be surprised if it does. Eliza has come a long way in a few years. From the kid who’s bullied to the kid reading her book in front of her classroom to the kid having a book-signing event for the entire school.“It’s pretty cool,” she says. “Before that, most kids would say, ‘No way! You did not write a book!’ They seem shocked. And maybe don’t believe me at first until they look the book up online. Now, most kids want to know how they, too, can write a book.”