I am 41 years old and I am not to proud to say I cried reading this booking more than once ! This is a beautiful book both the artwork and the story. It follows willow who after arguing with her sister runs into the woods and meets Pilu, she tries to help Pilu find her way home after she has argued with her mother. The pair on their journey home learn together, dealing with emotions, loss and how to be 'strong'. This is such a wonderful book for loss and coping with loss I wouldn't just st recommend it for children I think adults should read this too. I cannot emphasise enough how beautiful and wonderful this is. Thank you to the author for a wobderful piece of art and storytelling.


I was given a free e-book by netgalley and the publisher for an honest review.

I cannot wait to own a physical copy of this graphic novel!!!

An incredible story of family, friendship, loss and grief. The art is beautifully done and the education given is not overdone and gives way to how we all deal with our own frustrations over difficult times.

#PiluOfTheWoods #NetGalley

What do you get you take a little nature, a difficult promise, and a lot of heartache and stir it up? Pilu of the Woods. 

Willow and her sister, Lin, promised their mother that they would be strong. No one could foresee the future and no one expected to have to be strong. For Lin, that meant taking their mother's role, for Willow, that meant learning to listen.

Willow ran away from home after getting in trouble at school and saying mean things to her sister, who is dealing with her loss in a different way. While walking through the woods, Willow and Chicory, her dog, find another soul who feels unheard and unwanted. Pilu is magnolia sprite and lives in Willow's mother's favorite grove. Pilu is one of many children and ran away because she feels her mother does not want her around.

Together, they discover that nothing likes to be ignored...and that includes all the emotions that Willow has kept bottled up because she doesn't like the way they make her feel.

This journey through grief, acceptance, understanding, and the power of family is a tearjerker to be sure. The wonderful artwork makes the story come to life. Nguyen touched all the right notes with this book. I especially loved how the sister's fought and how easy it is to say mean things without really wanting to, or meaning to. The characters are very true to life.

ARC provided by NetGalley

This story is really like a warm hug close to your heart, about grief and friendship and accepting all of our feelings, even the little monsters ones. I love the art and the colors of this book, along with all the nature and the relationship Willow strikes with Pilu, helping each other out. It leaves me with a soft and warm feeling in the chest. Definitely would recommend for all ages.

Pilu of the Woods is a tender pick-me-up suitable for children and adults alike. 

The main character on the cover is Willow, a child who has lost her mother and is struggling with all the (very visible) demons that come with that. (Another book that does this very well is Brave Chef Brianna by Sam Sykes.)

Willow runs to the forest and finds Pilu, a girl of the woods who is crying because she also has troubles with her family. 

Together, Pilu and Willow find metaphors in the woods to illustrate  their current feelings and the consequences attached to ignoring those feelings. Comparing their intangible emotions to physical objects helps open up many layers of meaning in the readers' mind. 

Overall, this is a very sweet and heartwarming comic. I highly recommend it, but especially to: children of all ages, adults looking for something cute to read, and people who enjoy a tenderly illustrated, woodsy comic.

(p.s. I listened to Kishi Bashi while reading this and it paired beautifully.)

Environmentalism and anti-bullying messages combine in this youthful graphic novel, which visually is half manga and half classical woodcut. That said (and in case you're wondering, it is a wonderful amalgam that really works – even if one girl here is stuck with frilly-edged underwear as clothing) it's a bit take-it-or-leave-it. For one thing, you have to be on board with having pointless dogs as sidekicks. So I took against things for sure, but I admired others, so I certainly suggest people try this out.

A super cute story with delightful illustrations! A great read for young and old alike. (Especially if you love nature and cute forest spirits.)

Sweet, if somewhat heavy-handed, graphic novel about a young girl dealing with grief over the death of her mother. There are some fantasy elements, through which she learns to deal with her own feelings by helping others. I was sort of confused in some parts by how the timeline jumped around.

This a sweet, but a little heavy handed story about a young girl trying to deal with grief.

We never learn <em>how</em> her mother died, just that she did, and she has not come to terms with her feelings. And the feelings are like monsters to her, that she should fear.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4701" src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-06-at-4.23.41-PM.png" alt="Pilu of the woods" />

Then she meets a tree spirit, and by helping Pilu, she helps herself realize that she has to feel the feelings that are threatening to smother her.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4700" src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-06-at-4.25.40-PM.png" alt="Pilu of the woods" />

Hey, even though I knew I was being manipulated, the story made me cry, so it did its magic.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I loed reading this beautiful graphic novel. The drawings are beautiful and the story is really nice and works well. I love how nature is present and also the personification of bad feelings with monsters. Kids can easily relate to that and the story works like a tale wonderfully.

Moving, thoughtful story. Illustrations were captivating. I would share this with my child if there was a relevant life event to connect to it, or when he is a little older.

This was a super cute graphic novel. I really enjoyed the art style, and also liked that this small book was able to cover so many different important topics. I will say it was kind of confusing at times when it switched time lines, but other than that I believe this could help a lot of young kids or even some adults learn a few things about themselves!