The idea of scary kids books really isn’t a new concept. Ever hear of Grimm’s Fairy Tales? The Disneyfied versions we all reared our kids on are pale tamed down versions. The originals were stories meant to frighten kids. Warn them of a witch in the woods that cooks and eats children in order to keep them from wandering off in curiosity while playing. That’s Not Your Mommy Anymore is today’s Grimm’s Fairy Tale (with zombies.)

Zombies are, after all, all the rage these days. (Did you notice, we have a whole Zombie Month going on right now. And it is called Zombie Month 2011, alluding to a Zombie Month 2012. But don’t tell anyone, that is a secret.) Why just last week we even reviewed a different zombie kids book.

The two are radically different. That one was about being a zombie and how to cope. This one is about what to do when your mom turns into one. That is far from the only difference, but this isn’t meant to be a comparison between the two.

Matt Mogk and Aja Wells have put together a spectacular kids book. And I mean that from the perspective of it being a kids book first and foremost. This is actually something I have rather a good bit of knowledge in. I am the curator of a museum in St Louis that exhibits the art of kids books. So I deal with authors, artists and book companies in this realm almost daily.

The story is written in a style that draws the readers in. A kid will want to turn the pages to keep this story going. I wish I had this book when my kids were little. They have all read it now and enjoyed it, but it would have been fun when they were little.

There is even an homage or two within the book. We see a theater marquee showing Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. And there is a pair of lines “That’s not your mommy down the hall. That’s not your mommy at the mall.” Each of these has a picture with it. The first a little girl zombie with a teddy bear. The second is the Hare Krishna zombie from Dawn of the Dead.

The art from this book is done by Aja Wells. And she does a first rate job on it. Sometimes a cover is just that. A means to get you to buy the book. It isn’t representative of the art contained within. Happily I can tell you that the art within is every bit as good if not better than the cover. It would be a tough sell for me to get the Board to agree to have this hanging in our museum year round, but come October I would love to have a piece of her art hanging in our museum.

This book is top notch from start to finish. If you have kids I suggest getting it. If you don’t have kids, you will still want to get it (and then have kids so you can read it to them.) 5 stars is the top end of the scale we use for reviews, but this goes beyond that and gets a Gold Star