"That's Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale" by Matt Mogk

That's Not Your Mommy Anymore was written by Matt Mogk and illustrated by Aja Wells. That's Not Your Mommy Anymore is a terrific, terrifying, and silly children's story the author keeps the reader engaged until the end of the story. The story starts off with a little boy describing all the wonderful things mom do for their children. Then the book takes a dark turn as the boy describes all the signs that your mommy is changing into something that isn't your mommy anymore. And the boy goes on to describe ways to get safe if your mommy is a zombie.

The illustrations in That's Not Your Mommy Anymore flow with the story perfectly. What I love most about them is that they tell a sort of story all on their own if a child couldn't read they could get the jest of the story just by the imagery. I think the illustration are a very important aspect and aid to the text in the story. One of my favorite images from the story was the end image of the mommy zombie eating that rat. It was gruesome yet comical. 

The intended interest level for That's Not Your Mommy Anymore is for second grade- fourth grade for context not reading level. The genre of this book is fantasy,and comedy. One of the biggest literary devices found in the story That's Not Your Mommy Anymore is rhyming. Rhyming occurs when two end words sound the same. I think this story would be an excellent teaching aid for introducing students to the ideal of what rhyming is. On the first page of the story rhyme can be seen. An example is: "Mommy has the kindest eyes. Mommy likes to bake you pies."

Classroom Application:

Critical Thinking Preliminary and Post Reading Questions

• Before teachers begin reading That's Not Your Mommy Anymore to students they should begin by showing students the cover of the book a long with a few images to get them thinking about what the story might be about.
  Teachers should ask questions about the chosen images to get the students engaged and problem solving. Some question that could be asked include: What do you think this story is going to be about?, What do you think is going to happen to the boy?, The story is called That's Not My Mommy Anymore but what do you think is wrong with the mommy?, Why does the mommy look so scary?, Why is the boy scared?, etc.
• After reading That's Not My Mommy Anymore teachers should expand on the reading by asking questions that will get students thinking about the future and what happened in the story. For example: Do you think that the mommy will scare the boy?, What person view point was the story told in and give an example to defend your response?, etc. 

Demonstrating Cause and Effect

• Why do you think that the boy ran away?
• Do you know why the mommy wasn't the boy's mommy anymore?
• What did the mommy do before she turned into a zombie?

Character Analysis

• Describe the boy? 
• Describe the mommy? 

Personal Connections

• Teachers should ask students what things from the story they can relate to their own lives. For example helping a parent cook a meal, singing with a parent, cleaning with a parent, being scared, etc.

Sequencing Skills

• Teachers can expand on student sequencing skills by asking students to draw several pictures about their favorite parts of the story and then having them put their pictures in order of how they occurred in the story. 

Summarizing the Story

• The teacher can call on students to help summarizing what happened in the story they just read. The teacher should ask each student to add to the summary before summarizing herself/himself about what happened in the story. 

Theme

• The teacher should ask students to write down what they think the purpose or theme of the story was. It could have been imagination, always have plan, etc.