52 | NOVEMBER 3 • 2022 

E

laine Serling turned to two young 
grandchildren for comments on 
her new book, Riding in a Car NOT in 
a Kangaroo!, and got happy approval for it. 
Similarly, she got approval for the same-
titled song that accompanies the story 
and can be accessed through the book.
While the tale is about the pleasures 
long preceding COVID — like going 
to the beach or the zoo — the music is 
high-tech. It can be transferred from a 
spot in the book to a smart phone using 
a QR code.
Serling is introducing her latest 
project on the last day of the Detroit 
Jewish Book Fair, at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, 
Nov. 13, in the Jewish 
Community Center in West 
Bloomfield, where some 20 
local authors will have their 
own spots for talking with 
individuals attending the 
event. 
“I like that my book is 
happy, simple and gives 
kids a chance to just be 
themselves,” said Serling, 
well-known to patrons at 
the Jewish Community 
Center for entertaining 
young people with music 
she writes and performs. “I 
have played the book song 
for a couple of young kids, 
and they just pick up the 
chorus right away. They 
have fun with it, and it makes me smile. 
“It’s turning my face the other way 
from the years with the pandemic. It’s 
letting kids be kids every day. It’s taking 
a vacation in a sense. That’s why it’s 
in a car. One of their friends is a little 
kangaroo, and a couple of the kids 

got into the kangaroo mama’s 
pouch. 
“It ends up that the family trip is the 
last action in the story. Everybody in the 
car ends up on the same road going to 
a parade, and they’re all in the parade 
playing instruments.”
Serling, who began training on 
musical projects when she was 10, 
evaluates the new book for those 
between ages 1-8. It is her third book 
and was prepared with the help of 
artists Kathleen and Tim Spellman, 
graphic designer/project manager 
Karen McDiarmid and music director/
co-arranger Stefan Kukurugya. 
“For the very young, it’s 
happy even if they’re not 
quite ready for the idea,” 
Serling said. 
Serling’s two earlier books 
are Bubbie’s Baby, with a recent 
15th anniversary edition, 
and Grandma and Grandpa’s 
Darlings, with the words “hello 
grandma and grandpa” in 
24 different languages. Her 
straightforward recordings 
are From the Heart, Sing and 
Celebrate and Join the Circle. 
“When I went into 
authoring, I became very 
aware that years ago children 
didn’t see themselves in their 
books,” she said. “I felt music 
is going to allow everybody 
to participate, and illustrations would 
be the way of showing we’re more alike 
than not alike. “
Although Serling was performing 
in her teens, she became a registered 
nurse and practiced during the time she 
and husband, Michael, spent in Israel 

shortly after marrying. Back in 
Michigan, she had the first of two 
children and did not return to full-time 
work.
Writing started full force when 
Serling was 25 and continues into her 
75th year.
“As a performer, I became a teacher at 
preschools, and I taught at five different 
schools around the city,” she said. “I like 
to use the classroom almost as a stage 
and use music to make it easier to learn 
and much more fun. I combined the 
skills I had to entertain and teach. With 
the two together, it was fun.” 
As Serling was teaching, she found 
that her students liked putting the 
characters together so they could make 
their own sketches. 
Elaine and Michael Serling are active 
in the Jewish and wider communities. 
At Michigan State University, there is 
the Michael and Elaine Serling Institute 
for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel. It 
just celebrated its 30th year. 
“I’m honored to be on the board 
of the Zekelman Holocaust Center 
in Farmington Hills, and Michael is 
involved with the Anti-Defamation 
League,” Serling said. “I’m also involved 
with Hadassah, and we’re both honored 
to be part of the Beaumont Trustee 
Foundation.
“When I think of myself as a 
grandparent, I can be the one who goes 
to the zoo with the grandchildren, or 
we can all go together and ask other 
friends,” she said. “I just make it a little 
old-fashioned and call it the simple 
pleasures.” 

Elaine Serling to share her latest 
children’s book at the Jewish Book Fair.
A Happy Read

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ARTS&LIFE
BOOKS

Details

To purchase Elaine 
Serling’s books or 
recordings, go to 
elaineserling.com.

Elaine 
Serling

