Shaped by Love: An Ode to Mom Bods

by Nikki Powers, Amanda Calatzis (Illustrator)

Overview

"As captivating as it is important, a lovely and essential tribute to the transformation wrought by parenthood." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Intimate, inclusive, and brimming with bold colors, this tribute to the physical and emotional bond between mother and child is the perfect gift for new parents to treasure and share.

Before babies enter the world and arrive in their parents’ arms, they are held inside their mothers. Mother and child grow strong as one, nourished by love. Moms imagine the little ones they carry inside, dream of them, wait and long for them, and when those babies arrive, a mother’s body eases their hunger, heals their hurt, and holds and soothes them when they are sad. As the years pass and mother and child grow and change, their bodies change with them—altered by time and tenderness, courage and joy. Lyrical text and warm, energetic illustrations track the evolution of a timeless bond in the lives of diverse families. Destined to be a go-to gift for new or soon-to-be parents, this portrait of the physical and emotional journey through giving birth, parenthood, and aging is a love letter to families of all kinds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536230062
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	12/09/2025
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.62(w) x 10.62(h) x (d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Nikki Powers lives in Minnesota with her husband and children. This is her first picture book.

Amanda Calatzis is the author-illustrator of Khalida and the Most Beautiful Song and illustrator of the board book Are You My Cutie Patootie? by Monique Aiken and the picture book Mister Rogers’ Gift of Music by Donna Cangelosi. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Editorial Reviews

Picture books about parenthood are plentiful, but few capture the corporeal experience with comparable care. Calatzis’ artwork, a stunning combination of collage and embroidery, underscores the act of making as being intentional and effortful, an aesthetic message deeply compatible with Powers’ thoughtful, empowering text. As captivating as it is important, a lovely and essential tribute to the transformation wrought by parenthood.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Publisher

★ 2025-07-19
A halcyon love letter from mothers for the children who transformed their bodies.

This epistolary piece begins with the dream of motherhood as a snoozing woman envisions her future with ruminative anticipation. Flash forward slightly, and Calatzis’ illustrations follow a racially and culturally diverse group of pregnant people as they anticipate what’s to come. Depicted (rather refreshingly) as hard work, labor ushers forth a new era, and these women become parents, mothers for whom love, possibility, and growth—physical and otherwise—abound. Powers’ thesis is a simple one—the child makes the mother, but it’s the latter who carries embodied proof of the life they’ll go on to share. The birthing parents cue largely female, and while a stretch-marked stomach makes a notable appearance, C-section scarring does not. Still, the identities and bodies rendered throughout prove thoughtfully, thoroughly diverse otherwise. The result not only offers context for the physical experience of motherhood— “wrinkles, sags, grays, / new markings to cherish”—but also provides a template for the kind of authentic self-love that only inclusive visibility can cultivate. Picture books about parenthood are plentiful, but few capture the corporeal experience with comparable care. Calatzis’ artwork, a stunning combination of collage and embroidery, underscores the act of making as being intentional and effortful, an aesthetic message deeply compatible with Powers’ thoughtful, empowering text.

As captivating as it is important, a lovely and essential tribute to the transformation wrought by parenthood.(Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews