This is exactly the book my tender heart needed right now. In this slim graphic novel by debut Mai K. Nguyen (one to watch!), a young girl named Willow struggles to come to terms with her mother's tragic passing. After getting into a fight with her older sister, she runs to the woods with her pup, Chicory, and her knowledge of plants gleaned from adventures with her parents. There, she meets a forest spirit named Pilu and must escort her home, to the magnolia grove that Willow's mother loved. The forest environments are particularly well-drawn and colored, and I loved the characters' design, the hand-lettered aesthetic, and the contrast of bright-hued nature with darker, bottled-up feelings.

The most striking thing about this book is its artistic depiction of negative feelings as small monsters. Willow literally bottles hers up, not dealing with her grief, anger, or pain. Throughout her journey, she must come to terms with the fact that strength comes through kindness, compassion, and emotional awareness, not shutting one's emotions off altogether. Because of this message, and the easy-to-grasp symbolism of the small monsters that grow out of control as Willow's emotions grow more intense, this book is perfect for young and old readers alike.

This is such a poignant and heartwarming tale of family, love, loss and home. The story is perfectly complemented by the wonderful illustrations. I particularly loved the way grief/anxiety/depression are portrayed and illustrated here. I think this would be an excellent story to help kids understand loss and mental health.

I enjoyed reading this so much. From the artwork to the content, everything is just lovely. This work delivers a very important message in a wonderful manner, a manner that makes one reflect on what the characters are going through and relate it to one's own experiences.

Definitely, recommend this! :)

At it’s heart, this is a story of grief, friendship, and moving forward

The artwork for this graphic novel is always clear, and it has a muted palette for scenes from the past (which I really enjoy). It sets the tone well for the story, and the artist does a great job of showing me the world/setting.

The story is fantastic, because it says a lot, with as few words as possible, which I find delightful. After having just slogged through two really text heavy graphic novels with too much telling, I loved how this graphic novel just showed me the story. I found myself rushing forward and often had to slow myself down, so I could really enjoy the scenes and artwork.

This was perfection. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this title in advance. It releases on April 17, 2019, so go pre-order your copy today. This is a must have for all MG graphic novel collections.

This book was adorable, and heartfelt, and just made me feel so much. I loved the mystical / magical vibe of the Woods, and the Magnolia trees were an extra special touch for me. I have family history with a love for Magnolia's, so that made me connect to this so much more. I already have it on my "to buy" list after it releases

I received this an ARC copy from Netgalley.
I gave this a 4.5 out of five stars.

I really enjoyed the story and the art of this. It shows the loss of a parent and the hardships with it and being lonely. This is a middle grade graphic novel. Made me feel sad. I liked this and would continue with it if there was another to come out. I recommend this to people of all ages.

Beautifully crafted, strongly messaged fantastical graphic novels for young readers are always welcome (and needed) in the world, and "Pilu of the Woods" is a great exemplar of the form. Nguyen's art is adorable, the story unique, and the point one worth getting.

The graphic novel Pilu of the Woods follows Willow, a young girl who has a fight with her sister and runs of into the forest. There she meets Pilu, a lost tree spirit who has also had a fight with her family and cannot find the way home. Willow decides to help her, and together they journey through the forest battling demons inside of themselves.

This graphic novel was very, very sweet. The drawings were so cute, and I loved the artstyle! The message this book gives is to not fight your inner demons, but to accept them and work with them. I think this came across nicely. The characters were also lovely, the dialogue easygoing. I seriously feel like I need a physical copy one day so I can stare at it more thoroughly. If you like sweet graphic novels and wants something touching, definitely pick this up!

Thank you so much to Netgalley for providing me with an eArc.

Pilu of the woods is a book that is just heartwarming even though it portray how hard it is sometimes to act when things just did not go the way we expect. But Pilu story is full of feeling and touch you in a gentle way. I think it's a wonderful story that not to be missed. Mai's illustration that accompany the story make it even more complete and soooo lovely. I highly recommend it! I will read more books by the author <3

A comic for young readers tackling heavy topics like anger, grief, loss and forgiving yourself. The story is told through the touching friendship between two young girls, both looking for love and acceptance in a world where they feel lost. The art style is adorable and the colours are perfect for it. Beautiful graphic novel!

I love this book. Simple yet meaningful. It will teach our kids not to bottle up their feeling, it’s okay to feel angry but don’t be aggresive. And remember that your family will always be there for you.

It’s very interesting read with detailed illustrations. Definitely make list to be read with/to my toddler.

Thank you netgalley for providing the arc.

I wasn't expecting to cry in a coffee shop today but alas, here I am. This book is a gift to unlocking our understanding of feelings and emotions for those young and old. It explains how ignoring our feelings doesn't make them go away in a way we can all benefit from. The illustrations add to the description of feelings and it is quite simply one of the better explanations I've seen and heard. At no point does this graphic novel talk down to the reader or expect too little of them. This easy-to-read story is one young readers can come back to time and again. I'm fully confident that everyone who reads this book will walk away better for it.

Love love love! Great message and beautiful story. I really love the way the sounds of the forest are illustrated into the pictures.

I really didn't like this one at all. The drawings weren't my thing, the story was both depressing and confusing, and the book was riddled with typos and odd style choices.

Pilu of the Woods, despite the title and the cover illustration, is actually about a girl named Willow who lives with her father and older sister, Linnea. She had a mother once, but she's dead now, and Willow is always getting in trouble because she doesn't know how to deal with her feelings. She bottles them up (literally) until she just has to let them out in a fit of anger and/or violence. This part of the book had me confused at first, because there are these drawings of little creatures in bottles throughout the panels, and I wasn't sure what that was about for the longest time. The bit about the mother is also confusing, because it almost seems like her death is what caused Willow to become the way she is. But that's not the case, because her mother tells her (before she dies) to always treat others with kindness and compassion, and even makes Willow promise this. It seems like a weird promise to have your child make, unless you know you're about to die (but that's not the case; it's implied the mother died in a car accident on a rainy night). So Willow gets even more screwed up by her emotions because she's trying to keep this promise to her dead mother. She bottles up all her feelings until they come exploding out, taking actual physical form in the woods and threatening her and her new friend, Pilu.

Despite her name being in the title, I actually think Pilu is kind of unnecessary. Aside from agreeing with Willow about how tough feelings can be, she doesn't really add much to the story or offer any interesting insights or revelations. I guess she's almost like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl in that respect, since her problems are only there so that Willow can come to her own realizations and solve her own problems. She's some sort of nature sprite who runs away from her magnolia grove because she feels ignored. But it's actually Willow who knows more about the woods, and teaches Pilu a few things about it. (Some of those bits were the most interesting parts of the book; I wish there had been a little bit more of that and a lot less of the girls trudging through the woods in silence.)

That last point brings me to one of the most annoying things about this book, and that's how it's all put together. Aside from many typos and annoying onomatopoeia that uses repetition of silent letters (I can't stand it when people write that something is "cuttteee!", so I really wasn't pleased to see things like "RRUSSSTTTLLEEE" in the panels), the drawings are littered with near-empty speech bubbles with nothing but ellipses to show when the characters are being silent. Call me crazy, but wouldn't not having them say anything show the same thing just as well with less clutter? Also, the speech bubbles are all over the place. Sometimes they're smooth, sometimes they're jagged (which I think signified shouting), and sometimes they look like clouds... which seems odd, because I usually think of cloud shapes as thought bubbles, while here they're used for actual speech... for no real reason that I could see.

I don't like the drawings here, either. They're too cutesy, and the author seems to like drawing tears and snot just a little too much (there's a panel near the beginning of the book that has Willow snorting back a slurpy booger that just about made me gag). One scene also has Willow sharing a peanut butter sandwich with her brand-new friend, which I thought was kind of irresponsible; teaching kids to share peanut butter with someone of unknown allergy status is not the best idea.

Overall, I'm disappointed. The story's premise is okay, but there's far too much crying going on and not enough about actually dealing with negative feelings. (Willow eventually comes to realize that she has to acknowledge those feelings and not keep them bottled up, but it's not really shown how she's going to do that.) And with so many typos and weird style choices for the format, it's not one of the stronger graphic novels I've read.

I got a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This children's book is about Willow who runs away from home for being angry at her sister and meets Pilu of the woods. Pilu can't find her way back home and Willow offers to help. This story was fantastic. I should definetly read more children's books. It talked about friendship, loss, family and inner demons in a way which even adults could take a lesson from. It shows you that you should not bottle up your fears but face them. And I found it to be a cute and awesome story. Definite reading recommendation !

The adorable art was the first part that caught my eye. A very sweet and heartfelt story about a little girl coping with grief and connecting to nature and her mother along the way. Would definitely suggest this one.

A very pretty middle grade graphic novel that deals with grief and family.
I liked the illustrations, the color and typography which are important aspects for me in a graphic novel.

Willow lives near the woods. She's struggling with some deep emotions. One day she has a fight with her sister and runs into the woods with her dog. She meets Pilu, a tree girl with hair of leaves, who is lost. Pilu isn't sure she's ready to go home and Willow isn't happy about that. They bond over the monsters that live in their head. The images in this book were gorgeous and I found myself totally drawn into the woods with Willow and Pilu.

This is a great graphic novel for middle grade graphic novel readers, especially those who are starting to hear their own loud monsters in their heads.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reading copy.

Willow is feeling lost, figuratively and literally. She's just run away from her sister and her home to the woods where she once spent time with her mom. Her mom who's lost forever.

In the woods she meets Pilu, a tree spirit who is lost as well. Willow and Pilu's lives parallel each others in some ways. Willow and Pilu are both angry at their circumstances and don't know a way out their own turbulent anger. As Pilu starts talking about how she feels invisible and how she isn't sure she wants to go home something starts being drawn out in Willow. Pilu not wanting to go back home to her mother makes her think of the mother she will never get back to. This anger manifests into something real and scary. Will Willow be able to get control of her emotions? And will Pilu decide to face her family?

Pilu of the Woods is a story about facing our emotions before they get the better of us. The concept of Pilu of the Woods is one that could easily bring up my emotional side. The backstory alone got me teary eyed. The illustrations are colorful and have a pretty aesthetic. Everyone seems to love this comic, problem is, I don't.

Yes, I liked the concept and some of the artwork but there were so many little things that added up to me thinking this was just an okay read. First of all, did you think the person on the cover was a little girl? Because I didn't. I love art so if something feels off it sticks with me. I like how Willow is a tomboy and is a bit nerdy but she looks like a miniaturized tomboy teenage girl. Not a little girl who's a tomboy. She actually looks like Harry Potter. And me being a stickler for art design, it was an unnecessary distraction.

Also, do you see that dog on the cover? Yeah, he's hardly in the story which was a bummer. The other character who was actually part of the majority of the story, who is an adorable tree spirit, would have looked great on the cover but I digress.

Now the art design of Willow could have been looked over however, the pacing of the story was off and the message was a little too much in your face. Willow goes to the woods, finds the tree spirit, and immediately we get into what Willow needs to learn about her family life. I would have liked her to realize everything in the end. She automatically couldn't believe why Pilu didn't want to go home. How could she do that to her family? So then that should have been it. She learned her lesson so why would everything else need to happen?

So right away the message of the story is put in the forefront. Something that could have been put off. And then still while we journeyed and at the end of the story the message was pushed upon me again and again. I got it the first time so that frustrated me. The message is a good one that I think is great for the audience of this comic - children. I thought it was brilliant to have her emotions manifest because it shows how real her emotions feel to her. And just like kids (and sometimes adults too) she didn't know how to handle it. It's all great but not executed to my liking. But hey, everyone seems to like this comic and you may too. The author's illustrations are really pretty. I placed a couple of her images from her tumblr below so you can enjoy. Pilu of the Woods just wasn't for me.

I'd have to admit, Pilu of the Woods was such a wonderful read. The artwork is so beautiful and the story is very moving. I love how our characters learned to deal with their struggles. Towards the end, I may or may not have shed a few tears mainly because of the portrayal of love between Pilu and Linnea. I would highly recommend this to everyone - no matter the age.