This story was a beautiful story of dealing with forgiveness and grief. I loved Willow and Pilu’s friendship and how they each helped one another deal with their inner monsters! The art style was beautiful and I absolutely loved the design of Pilu and how she mirrored a magnolia in several ways. Absolutely loved this!

This is such a sweet book! I can see why a lot of reviews reference Hilda--the art is beautiful while the character designs are cartoony. I loved how Nguyen weaved the text of sound effects into the environment. The story is sweet and sad and focuses on the importance of not suppressing emotions. Definitely recommended!

Cute story, beautiful art! I would recommend this for grades 4-6 but I think it would also appeal to younger teens.

*I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Pilu of the Woods is a touching, gorgeously-illustrated story about grief in childhood, and working through it. Obviously meant for children, the book was heartbreaking and heartwarming, but easy to follow and never too grim (despite the “monsters” hiding in every page). The dialogue was sprinkled with environmental tidbits that never came across as preachy, but felt apt, given the current issues of climate change and global warming.

The plot follows Willow, a middle schooler dealing with the recent passing of her mother and feelings of guilt. After a fight with her elder sister, she runs into her beloved woods and meets Pilu, a fairy-like sapling running away from her family in the groove. The two girls strike the easy friendship of children and relate to each other through their similar, though different feelings of loneliness and pain. Through their interactions, the joy of being seen and understood, accepted and liked is palpable. But the instant bond goes beyond, and both girls push the other into facing their fears and mistakes.

Having lost my father at a similar age, I found myself nodding along, relating to Willow’s outbursts and desperation. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any parent whose book-loving children are working through the stages of grief. It might help them talk about their feelings. But, that said, I recommend this book to anyone who loves fairy-tales and graphic novels; and to anyone else who’s willing to give heartfelt stories a chance.

Nguyen’s illustrations bring the world to life in bursts of colors: pastel-like shades; vibrant greens and reds; sudden blacks and purples. I loved Willow’s design in particular: the round glasses and unkempt hair; the shorts and hoodies. But every character felt alive, and so did every page.

This was such an unexpected delight. The cute, charming artwork of Pilu of the Woods belies a hard-hitting and much-needed message about facing our feelings--the good, the bad, and the ugly--and holding our loved ones close. While intended for children, this beautiful graphic novel will resonate with readers of ALL ages, young or old.

I'm not even true if I was the audience or demographic for this, but I absolutely loved this. Whole heatedly adored.

The art is amazing, it's so cozy and cute, warm and somber. I'd definitely look out for more by this artist. Luckily, the story was great too! Wasn't what I was expecting but I'm glad. It definitely exceeded my expectations.

Would highly recommend, for young or old. I feel like anyone could appreciate this.

I absolutely loved every little bit of this comic. The art work is lovely and the story is moving and inspiring. I read it in one sitting and couldn't help but get emotional and cry. I recommend this to everyone willing to start reading comics, or anyone who already loves them, and is interested in growth and family relationships.

"Willow loves the woods near her house."

This book surprised me and not just with its beautiful art but with the turns the story takes. It weaves the past and present, the realistic and the magical in such a way that you can't help but be mesmerized.

My only gripe I have with this is that halfway through the story becomes very rushed and as a result some of it's charm loses its appeal.

This is such a beautiful with such intricate and very well drawn illustrations. This story is centred towards middle graders but it has even made me moved by how deep they story got. There were so many important yet crucial messages that I personally could take for myself as a moral-that we need to understand and try to control the demons living inside us better. To not run away from it and to face it head on. I have also learned that we should not handle the people around for granted because they could be gone just as quick.

I really love this entire story, the setting and especially the beautiful illustrations along the way. It was probably one of the best book that I have read in one full sitting. I feel that people need to know about this book and read it as soon as it comes out.

Pilu of the Woods is a graphic novel that’s beautiful in every way possible. The story is one of redemption, of overcoming your inner demons and admitting that fear sometimes gets the better of us and we must learn to move past it to recognize what really matters. It’s a moral story through and through, representing the grief that many kids don’t know how to express. On another note, it’s an ode to being true to yourself and feeling okay with being different from other kids. Eccentric interests may not be understood by everyone but for every interest, there’s somebody else who’s equally infatuated. No one is alone - that’s the key element of the narrative.

The artwork is stunning, filled with rich, intricate details and wonderful stylistic choices. The natural scenes have a woodcut feel, and every leaf, blade of grass, and flower is painstakingly created. There’s a reverence for nature that shines through in the art and it amplifies the message of wonder for the natural world. Willow’s infatuation with nature becomes all the more apparent as she runs through the woods, discovering more and more intimate details of the forest. The real brilliance lies in the artist’s representation of grief monsters bottled up inside. They have a consistent presence, representing Willow’s mood in a fascinating way. This interpretation is a great way to teach kids about emotions they may be too young to understand. I just can’t say enough about how smart and beautiful this art is.

Pilu of the Woods is a great teaching moment for kids who are struggling with grief and need a way to understand what they’re feeing. It’s a good reminder of the beauty in the world for adults who may have forgotten. Above all, it’s a beautiful piece of art that deserves to be read and enjoyed.

This review will be published on 4/9/19: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/04/09/pilu-of-the-woods-book-review

This graphic novel is so beautifully drawn, you need to just savor the pictures before going back to the story. And, the story is a good one. A young girl makes friends with the daughter of mother nature. Through their friendship, they each learn to appreciate their lives. There is a nice sprinkling of information about nature, like about magnolia trees. The only caveat is that there is a part about picking mushrooms for eating. I didn't see the standard notice about only eating mushrooms picked by experienced pickers. I know that my little one was already excited to look for mushrooms in our woods (where we have few if any edibles). I stopped that notion quickly.

Overall, really well done graphic novel.

4.5

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pilu of the Woods is a super cute middle grade graphic novel about Willow, who runs into the forest one day and discovers Pilu, another girl who has run away from home. The novel was beautifully illustrated and I liked how it explored the significance of regulating your emotions without ignoring them. I'm sure younger kids would really like and relate to this graphic novel.

Fun fact: I thought Willow was a boy until I got to the end. I didn't read the synopsis again before reading the book, but still, I don't know how I missed that.

This is a beautiful and heartbreaking story. My eye was caught because the description compared it to Hilda which I’ve fallen in love with recently, but it’s definitely its own story.
Willow is a girl wrestling with her own demons and after a fight with her sister and running away she comes across Pilu, a tree spirit who also ran away from home, and she offers to help take her back home. I loved the manifestation of Willow’s emotions as little demons that she tries to contain, it’s an image that kids can understand and grasp.
The book touches on loss, grief, coping with strong emotions, and strength. Willow thinks the last one means she can’t let anyone see her slip but on this beautiful emotional journey, that definitely made me cry a bit, she comes to learn otherwise.
The art is beautiful (so so beautiful) and bright and colorful. It’s very attention grabbing and I loved it.

The review was written in exchange for a free ARC via NetGalley. 

Review 

Let me first start off by saying that Pilu of the Woods is an incredibly beautiful and touching book. The art is lovely as is the story. 

Pilu of the Woods is about a young girl, Willow who is trying to understand her emotions after the loss of her mother. Willow and her sister Linnea are both dealing with the loss differently, Linnea is older and trying to step up into a maternal role, while Willow is becoming more introverted.

Willow is being bullied at school and lasing out. This leads to a fight between her and her sister where Willow runs off into the woods with her dog Chico. Both Willow's parents really love plant life and her father is an ecology professor of some type so Willow feels at home in the woods. She used to go on walks there with her mother as well, and pick her mother's favorite flower, the magnolia. 

While she is walking in the woods after her fight with her sister Willow happens upon another girl who has run away, named Pilu. Pilu is a forest spirit, coincidentally a magnolia tree spirit. Pilu has run away because she feels like she's never listened to among her twelve sisters. She also feels like her mother, responsible for forest duties, doesn't really care about her. She is now lost and doesn't want to go home. 

From her walks, with her mother, Willow thinks she knows where Pilu is from and Willow gets Pilu to agree to at least try to go home.

Along their walk back to the magnolia grove Willow talks about nature and tells Pilu about her sister, mother, and father. Their talks about nature are as much talks about emotions as anything, and one central theme that comes up is monsters. Monsters are what Willow calls her 'negative' emotions but I think they could very well represent trying to control mental illness. 

From her experience when she lets them out, bad things happen, such as the last time she talked to her mother she said something she thought was mean, the things she says when she gets into a fight with her sister, or the negative effects of defending herself from a bully at school.

The monsters are represented in the artwork by these green shapes in jars that appear behind Willow in each scene. 

As Pilu and Willow make their way back to the grove it starts to rain more and Pilu's emotions start to come out. She's nervous about going back home and nervous that her mother doesn't want her, Pilu claims that Willow knows nothing about being lonely.

Willow gets angry and her 'monsters' start to come out. She tells Pilu that she thinks her mother will always be there and that the 'monsters' can't hurt her. 

Then the 'monsters' start to show up. Pilu and Willow appear surprised and start to run from them. 

As she and Pilu run from the monsters Pilu asks if they are dangerous, and the two get to talking about Willow's monsters. Pilu wonders how they could be dangerous if they are Willow's since Willow herself isn't dangerous. Pilu also notes that the monsters might be lonely since Willow has been trying to ignore them. 

As the monsters catch up to Pilu and Willow, the monsters capture Pilu and Willow realizes she has had it all wrong about the monsters. That ignoring them has just made them grow bigger and stronger. Willow thinks back to what she discussed with Pilu about how no one likes to be lonely and makes a choice about how she will deal with her monsters that is the most important one in the whole book. 

After that it's a blur, Willow wakes up at home and the rest of the story is told in flashbacks. Willow eventually ends back at home and apologizes to her sister who apologizes to her. Willow leads Pilu back to the grove where her mother and sisters have missed her. This is the same grove the Willow used to visit with her mother. Pilu gives Willow a magnolia flower for her trouble and tells her to visit again. 

The book, however, leaves you with the distinct question of whether any of Willow's adventures with Pilu were real or not. Or simple her out in nature dealing with her emotions over the loss of her mother. Is Pilu simply the embodied spirit of something her mother loved (magnolias) there to help her along, in processing her feelings of loss and guilt? The author doesn't make it clear, though they do hint to perhaps it being a real adventure when Willow's father comments on a magnolia that Willow brought back, a gift from Pilu, being out of season. But I think it's really up to the reader to decide. 

Likes 

The way emotional processing is represented 
The art style 
Pilu and Willow's friendship. 
Dislikes 

Nothing, it's a gem. 

Rating 

The book is excellent. My favorite so far this year, the way Willow refers to her emotions as monsters is excellent, and the way the book deals with processing emotions could be helpful to people of any age. Plus it is simply gorgeous. Add on top of that a story about a friendship between two girls and I have to give it 5 stars! 

Diversity 

Willow is a person of color living dealing with the loss of her mother. I also believe she could have a mental illness, but that just my view of it. Dealing with loss and lack of proper regulation of emotions are the biggest factors that are dealt with here. I think that is super important as those are issues that aren't dealt with enough in children's literature. 

Recommendation

I think this is a great book for kids who are having trouble with big emotions or perhaps mental illness. I just really like the way it handles emotional regulation. I also think it could be helpful for someone dealing with a loss.

This book is so cute. This is so adorable. I loved every second of it! Pilu of the Woods is about Willow, a young girl, who just got into a fight with her older sister. Out of anger, Willow runs away and finds herself in the woods near her home. There she finds Pilu, a tree nymph who is lost. Willow embarks on a journey through the woods to try and help pilu find her way back home. Along the way, they form an unbreakable bond and learn just how similar every one can be.

I honestly really loved reading this book. It was so adorable and I loved the artwork. It was like watercolor which I found fit the story perfectly. And the story itself was so cute and amazing. I really loved how it got darker in the middle when they were talking about the “monsters” that everyone gets. It surprised me to see that I found some part of me in this Middle-grade graphic novel. Truly an amazing book ♡

This graphic novel is seriously one of the sweetest things I ever read. It's a beautifully drawn Middle Grade story about grief and family and how to deal with anger. The messages in this were not only important but also perfectly illustrated and presented. I read it on one go and it was very enjoyable, even for someone who isn't the main audience.

Such a cute story with heart and even some interesting information about forest life. Can't recommend it enough, especially for kids and everyone who enjoys a beautiful, sweet graphic novel.

Gorgeous artwork and a wonderful metaphor for dealing with hard feelings before they become monstrous.

I tend to read a lot of graphic novels, especially those meant for younger readers or middle grade readers. <i>Pilu of the Woods</i> is one such title, and the description appealed to me in much the same way many others have. This story of a little girl who is trying to find compassion both for herself and for those around her is so very endearing, especially when it seems that our world is in great need of compassion. It just goes to show that even little monsters need to be cared for rather than shut away.

Mai K. Nguyen's art style is one of the most adorable I've seen with a blend of realism and whimsy, and it reminds me of the <i>Hilda</i> series. Nguyen keeps the color tones very natural throughout the graphic novel which adds to the overall lush forest setting. Because of this palette, even when the story takes on darker tones, there is also an air of calm that will hopefully ease younger readers' concerns during the climactic scenes. It's simply beautiful in both color and story.

I highly recommend this graphic novel for readers both young and older, and I think <i>Pilu of the Woods</i> would be a great means of exploring emotions and sharing thoughts and feelings.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, for this free eARC.

Pilu of the Woods is such a heartwarming story, with wonderful messages about forgiveness, and learning how to cope with emotions.

I enjoyed this quick read and loved the illustrations! They were absolutely beautiful! As a debut author, I look forward to more from Nguyen.

Absolutely beautiful artwork tells the story of young Willow, struggling to cope with her emotions after a devastating loss. Through her friendship with the forest spirit Pilu, Willow learns that her heart is more like her beloved forest than she'd realized.
Charming, sweet, and dynamically illustrated.