What do you think?
Rate this book
That's Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale
From the founder of the Zombie Research Society comes a long-awaited, helpful children's book that teaches kids just what to do if mommy suddenly becomes a member of the undead.
"If she doesn’t seem like she did before, maybe that’s not your mommy anymore. And when this happens, you must go! Here is how you’re sure to know. . ."
In the ongoing effort to warn an unprepared world of the rising danger from zombie attacks, one vulnerable group has been left out — small children. That's Not Your Mommy Anymore offers social workers, counselors, and educators a helpful new tool to communicate with hard-to-reach at-risk youth. This inviting and entertaining story helps early readers understand for themselves that a mom who has fresh brain casserole in the oven instead of her usual meatloaf is probably not their mommy anymore.
This utterly twisted and incredibly funny take on the classic children’s book genre tells an entertaining story in rhyming text even as it teaches other telltale signs that mom has been bitten by a zombie! Rabid zombie fans will be highly entertained by this hilarious parody that adult readers are sure to love as much as the real children books they enjoyed as kids.
"If she doesn’t seem like she did before, maybe that’s not your mommy anymore. And when this happens, you must go! Here is how you’re sure to know. . ."
In the ongoing effort to warn an unprepared world of the rising danger from zombie attacks, one vulnerable group has been left out — small children. That's Not Your Mommy Anymore offers social workers, counselors, and educators a helpful new tool to communicate with hard-to-reach at-risk youth. This inviting and entertaining story helps early readers understand for themselves that a mom who has fresh brain casserole in the oven instead of her usual meatloaf is probably not their mommy anymore.
This utterly twisted and incredibly funny take on the classic children’s book genre tells an entertaining story in rhyming text even as it teaches other telltale signs that mom has been bitten by a zombie! Rabid zombie fans will be highly entertained by this hilarious parody that adult readers are sure to love as much as the real children books they enjoyed as kids.
32 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2011
11 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 15, 2012
This is cute and sort of funny but my 5 year old was like no way. I think that if it wasn't about Mummy and about the fact that you can't stay with Mummy he would have enjoyed it more. But I am not the asshole (my brother) who got it for him nor am I the one who read (half of it) to him.
Here is where Ronan (my 5 year old) eyes got wide
"When her voice sounds just like Daddy's snore, that's not your Mommy anymore"
I pulled a Liz Lemon and was all "Shut it down!"
The reason my brother got this was that zombies and Ronan are sort of joke to him.
Queue Jessi story: You might this shocking but I am not religious....I'll let you collect yourself from that bombshell.
Anyway this past Easter when Ronan was at daycare he asked about the Easter story. Now his daycare provider is religious, this is not a bombshell as the amount of crucifixes hanging on the walls of just the entryway number at least 4(in just the entryway!) so she tells him the story about Jesus' resurrection and of course Ronan says"Whoa was Jesus a zombie? cause my Mum says you want no part of zombies"
Blasphemous? Not really, but she was a little rattled by it. In the end when the story was relayed to me Ronan piped up to say that he was still unclear about the rabbit and the eggs, which I am unclear as well, clearly a case for google. Anyway my brother felt this was the funniest thing Ronan had said in some time. When I was upset about him and the book he said he was teaching him the valuable lesson that you have to be bit by another Zombie to become a zombie and as far as he knows that did not occur in the bible. Unhelpful.
I think 7 year olds and up may find this more fun and get that its a joke, but judge yourself.
Here is where Ronan (my 5 year old) eyes got wide
"When her voice sounds just like Daddy's snore, that's not your Mommy anymore"
I pulled a Liz Lemon and was all "Shut it down!"
The reason my brother got this was that zombies and Ronan are sort of joke to him.
Queue Jessi story: You might this shocking but I am not religious....I'll let you collect yourself from that bombshell.
Anyway this past Easter when Ronan was at daycare he asked about the Easter story. Now his daycare provider is religious, this is not a bombshell as the amount of crucifixes hanging on the walls of just the entryway number at least 4(in just the entryway!) so she tells him the story about Jesus' resurrection and of course Ronan says"Whoa was Jesus a zombie? cause my Mum says you want no part of zombies"
Blasphemous? Not really, but she was a little rattled by it. In the end when the story was relayed to me Ronan piped up to say that he was still unclear about the rabbit and the eggs, which I am unclear as well, clearly a case for google. Anyway my brother felt this was the funniest thing Ronan had said in some time. When I was upset about him and the book he said he was teaching him the valuable lesson that you have to be bit by another Zombie to become a zombie and as far as he knows that did not occur in the bible. Unhelpful.
I think 7 year olds and up may find this more fun and get that its a joke, but judge yourself.
November 11, 2021
It's a little off putting because Mommy is very, very traditionally depicted. And then the story gets really dark. But it's kinda like The Walking Dead for the picture book crowd.
April 27, 2012
Matt Mogk, That's Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale (Ulysses Press, 2011)
Not terribly sure I have anything to say about this charming-yet-nasty little volume that hasn't already been said, but by cracky, it's a bundle of fun. I'm not too sure it's going to get read to the kid any time soon (and I say this as someone with a kid who at the impressionable age of five months is already riveted by movies like La Horde and The Call of Cthulhu), because some of the (wonderful) illustrations have details that are perhaps a bit on the disturbing side for younger eyes, but as a zombie-loving adult, I found it irresistible, in the tradition of “this looks a lot like kidlit, but it really isn't” (think Goodnight Keith Moon here, but without riffing on an existing classic). Whether you do or do not have little ones running around, if you're a zombie fan, I can't recommend this one highly enough. ****
Not terribly sure I have anything to say about this charming-yet-nasty little volume that hasn't already been said, but by cracky, it's a bundle of fun. I'm not too sure it's going to get read to the kid any time soon (and I say this as someone with a kid who at the impressionable age of five months is already riveted by movies like La Horde and The Call of Cthulhu), because some of the (wonderful) illustrations have details that are perhaps a bit on the disturbing side for younger eyes, but as a zombie-loving adult, I found it irresistible, in the tradition of “this looks a lot like kidlit, but it really isn't” (think Goodnight Keith Moon here, but without riffing on an existing classic). Whether you do or do not have little ones running around, if you're a zombie fan, I can't recommend this one highly enough. ****
April 17, 2012
How do you know that's not your mommy anymore? Inside this book you will learn how to identify the signs that mommy has become one of the Living Dead. You're never too young to prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse.
March 23, 2012
My nephews love this book! I have to read it to them 2 or 3 times a day! Trust me I don't mind.
March 4, 2023
Zombie
I truly enjoyed this little book. My youngest would have loved it when they were much younger, but it is not for everyone. If you like zombies and teach your children freely then give this a read.
I truly enjoyed this little book. My youngest would have loved it when they were much younger, but it is not for everyone. If you like zombies and teach your children freely then give this a read.
October 22, 2018
Average read.
November 25, 2023
Cute zombie kids book
June 20, 2012
A week or so ago, I got a book. I didn’t get the book for myself, though. I finally found a book about the Undead that I could read to my kids! Matt Mogk (you may have heard of him) is the founder of Zombie Research Society, and he is the author of That’s Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale. With his heroic sidekick, and illustrator, Aja Wells, Mogk has finally brought something to the table we can all enjoy.
In 2007, The Zombie Research Society dedicated the month of May as Zombie Awareness month. This year, they decided to pick a specific theme and geared the festivities toward helping the younger generation prepare for the “coming Zombie plague” and Mommy was born.
Sometimes, it’s my pleasure to have short conversations with the creators of the works we feature here on Z&T, and Mr. Mogk was happy to join in on the tradition. For me, it’s cool to know some of the stories behind the things we actually see show up on the shelves. Also, as a writer and artist, it sometimes feels that your favorite things about your work get completely missed when someone else tells their friends. So, I asked him, what was your favorite part about writing this book?
“I wrote the manuscript about a year ago, and the illustrator and I started mocking up the pages roughly last August. The final manuscript and images were submitted to the publisher at the beginning of this year. I'm a huge zombie geek, so my favorite spread in the book is probably a lineup of some of the most famous zombie from film history. There are also hidden nods to zombie movies throughout the book that most people won't notice. I like those a lot.”
This put me on a kind of Where’s Waldo hunt for every pop culture poke I could find in the book. Well, Matt, I noticed. I noticed a guy who looks like George Romero in the supermarket. I saw Bubs and teddy bear girl. I even think I saw a few throwbacks to Left4Dead. It’s one of those things where each time you flip through, you spot another.
So, yeah. That’s Not Your Mommy Anymore is 17 pages of sing-song verse about how our youngsters should react when the old folks just don’t stay dead anymore. It’s everything kids’ book should be and also a pretty funny read for us old fogies. However, it’s still a book about Zombies cannibalizing people. There’s a little bit of blood and people missing some of the parts they were built with. Probably not for preschool aged munchkins.
In 2007, The Zombie Research Society dedicated the month of May as Zombie Awareness month. This year, they decided to pick a specific theme and geared the festivities toward helping the younger generation prepare for the “coming Zombie plague” and Mommy was born.
Sometimes, it’s my pleasure to have short conversations with the creators of the works we feature here on Z&T, and Mr. Mogk was happy to join in on the tradition. For me, it’s cool to know some of the stories behind the things we actually see show up on the shelves. Also, as a writer and artist, it sometimes feels that your favorite things about your work get completely missed when someone else tells their friends. So, I asked him, what was your favorite part about writing this book?
“I wrote the manuscript about a year ago, and the illustrator and I started mocking up the pages roughly last August. The final manuscript and images were submitted to the publisher at the beginning of this year. I'm a huge zombie geek, so my favorite spread in the book is probably a lineup of some of the most famous zombie from film history. There are also hidden nods to zombie movies throughout the book that most people won't notice. I like those a lot.”
This put me on a kind of Where’s Waldo hunt for every pop culture poke I could find in the book. Well, Matt, I noticed. I noticed a guy who looks like George Romero in the supermarket. I saw Bubs and teddy bear girl. I even think I saw a few throwbacks to Left4Dead. It’s one of those things where each time you flip through, you spot another.
So, yeah. That’s Not Your Mommy Anymore is 17 pages of sing-song verse about how our youngsters should react when the old folks just don’t stay dead anymore. It’s everything kids’ book should be and also a pretty funny read for us old fogies. However, it’s still a book about Zombies cannibalizing people. There’s a little bit of blood and people missing some of the parts they were built with. Probably not for preschool aged munchkins.
Want to Read
November 2, 2014Met Matt Mogk this week for Zombie day - he was very nice and approachable. Had a cool discussion with him about The Rules of Three and even suggested the book to him (The Rule of Three) after which we spoke about Zombie babies and started talking a little about Carrie Ryan , The Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy and their specific concept of 'Zombies' versus those in other modern 'pop-culture' depictions. :) Over all, happy I went .
December 15, 2011
This book is great if you have kids that are into zombies OR you just love zombies yourself! It is short and funny and kinda cute all at the same time! I have a 5 year old son who is very into zombies and into the whole zombie cult and we sit in the bed and read and re-read this book and we never get tired of it! We have so much fun acting out what Matt Mogk has written in this book! We play zombie all the time and this just helped us add to the fun we were already having! I truly recommend this for anyone of any age, it would even be a great gag gift for your friend that loves zombies! It is a must read!
April 23, 2015
My 6 year old brought this home from a Little Library today. As she read it out loud to me, I tried to keep my look of shock down to a humorously appropriate level. She has a love/hate relationship with zombies, alternating between fascination and terror. She had no problems with the book, but I'm a little worried about her having nightmares tonight. I think 6 is probably a wee bit too young for this book, but it would be great for children 8 and up. From an adult perspective, the horror fan in me loved this book and it's a fun introduction to the genre for the little horror fans of the future.
August 24, 2012
I read this book at least a zillion times to Riley, who identified with any number of the characters and wasn't the least surprised that his much-loved mother was unexplainably a zombie. I read it until I got carsick and then I read it some more. I can do the damn thing blindfolded. He rather liked the blood and gore. That's not your mommy anymore. Oh, sorry.
November 30, 2022
This book is so cute. We love anything zombie in this household . The illustration was fantastic as well and it was a fun story. My son is a zombie fan too and got this for him. Since then my youngest has now read it and both had a lot of fun reading it with me. It gives them a heads up and teaches them what to do if it ever came down to the apocalypse. 😉
July 20, 2012
totally adorable, definitely not meant for really young kids but if they are into zombies they will probably like (and understand) this book more than just the normal small child who thinks you're reading them a bed time story. lets not forget this is a parody, not a real children's book.
October 19, 2016
I read this to my five-year-old niece at least four times in the first day I checked it out from the library.
Needless to say, it's a hoot! And not too spooky for littler kids, but also quite funny!
Needless to say, it's a hoot! And not too spooky for littler kids, but also quite funny!
January 2, 2012
We got this as a white elephant. It is absolutely hilarious!
January 14, 2012
My brother and I are of the opinion that this book is amazing. My mom and sister and law do not share our enthusiasm. The jury is still out on how my nephew feels about it.
January 24, 2012
I really enjoyed this book - looking for a book to read for Oral Interp Class
December 2, 2012
a diabolical Dr Suessical read, NOT a bedtime for the kiddies, it's a good chuckle for older kids and adults that love nonsense, and all things zombie
Read
October 24, 2012This is absolutely brilliant, and I must NEVER read it to the children, because it would utterly terrify them.
November 7, 2012
This book was great fun for my zombie loving 5 year old. Not too scary and a whole lot of silly!
December 15, 2012
Cute and I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a parody of the Are you My Mother book from PD Eastman AND I really would not read to a young child but cute AND different.
August 23, 2016
One of my daughter's favorites, we read this silly and short rhyming book at least once a month
December 26, 2012
Perfect way to teach your kids about zombies~ ;)
Loved it!!
Loved it!!
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews