Pilu of the Woods

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.

Simply my new favorite graphic novel. This book is beautiful. The illustrations are great and the color pallete goes amazing with the story.
The story makes you think about how you live your life, what matter to you and the importance you give to things that affect you. It teaches us that our inner demons won’t go away, they are a part of you, but what we can do is learn how to cope with them.

Absolutely visually breathtaking and a testament to positive psychology principles. There are truly two wolves living inside all of us and the wolf that survives is the one that you feed.

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.

This book is amazing! A beautiful tale of friendship and feelings. Willow loves the woods and studies them with the help of her professor father. After a fight with her sister, Willow runs away to the woods and meets Pilu. Pilu, a tree spirit, is lost and needs help finding her home. Through the process of helping Pilu, Willow learns about her own feelings and learns how hurtful she can be to other people. I've already added this to our next library order and look forward to recommending it to our middle school students!

"You know maybe, it's okay to cry sometimes."

WOW. I'm so glad that I discovered this gem on NetGalley!

First of all, I love the art so much! I couldn't stop geeking out about it on every page! I love the colors, which kinda has a watercolor feel to it and the super cute doodly and cartoony illustrations! SO GOOD!

The story is as lovely as the art. The protagonist, Willow, ran away to the woods after having a fight with her older sister. In the forest, she met a tree spirit, Pilu, who also ran away from her home.

I absolutely adore these two characters. Willow has these monsters that she keeps inside jars, afraid that they might cause chaos if she lets them out. She ignores the fact that they're a part of her. But as Pilu said, no one wants to be ignored, even her monsters... which is such a good metaphor to feelings. In the end, Willow learned that it's okay to accept them.

"I thought being strong meant not crying, or whining, or complaining, or being sad... but I was wrong..."

It resonated so much to me. I tend to ignore some feelings, such as sadness because I usually think that it's a negative thing to feel, but in reality, there's something good and cathartic about accepting it. OHH... yeah, this reminds me of the movie Inside Out!

Pilu is also a character whom I could identify with. She ran away from home because she felt very alone and invisible, but in reality, she's loved and cared for. I also feel that way at times! Surrounded by lots of people, I tend to feel alone and a complete stranger, but I realize that among these waves and waves of people, there are those who genuinely care for me and are ready to back me up anytime.

In conclusion, this is such an adorable and heartwarming graphic novel. It might be a children's book, but it made me reflect on some things in life and about myself. Huhu. The feels. I sincerely hope that lots of people would be able to read this book when it's released next year because it's such a special and beautiful book!

Thanks so much, NetGalley for this eARC!

This is one of the sweetest and most beautiful graphic novels I have ever read. Initially drawn to the art this gave so much more, including lyrical prose. Ultimately this is a story of family, friendship and dealing with grief. While Willow and Pilu come from different worlds, they are such a sweet pair and I can't say no to a doggie sidekick! 

The art style itself is unique and while it will appeal to a younger reader as a woman in her mid-twenties I was enchanted by the illustration. Additionally, the use of colour to show the woods felt real to me. I read this at a point where I needed something to fall into and escape - something I was easily able to do. 

I will warn you going in that you might get a little emotional reading. I wanted to reach in and give Willow the biggest hug. The way that Nguyen has shown emotion and the complicated feelings that are being experienced from the perspective of a child is nothing short of incredible. 

It's no surprise that I gave this 5 stars. This really touched my heart, it's not a complicated story, however, it can speak volumes. I really hope that there is a follow-up because I can see the relationship and story really growing and evolving. This is a wonderful book, I can't stress enough how much I adore it. 

A huge thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for giving me a chance to read this in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is such a heart-warming and lovely book, it was an absolute joy to read.

I want to start by talking about the artwork, which is gorgeous. It's so detailed and imaginative, and the style and colouring still feels very gentle. I would even say the style and colouring is calming to look at.

The story itself is also excellent. It follows Willow, a young girl who misses her late mother greatly, and her adventure in helping Pilu, who is a lost tree spirit, to find her way home.
The way this story shows how bottling up emotions and not talking about them does more harm than good, is well conveyed. It shows how emotions we don't know how to handle can build up inside us like monsters, and in bursts of emotion we can say and do things we don't mean. It also shows that opening up about these emotions to ourselves and talking about them to those in our lives is healthy, and that it's okay to talk about these things. We all have our own monsters we have to face, we all get scared and angry or feel alone sometimes.

Willow's emotions largely stem from her grief at losing a parent which i feel is a topic well handled in this children's story, it does so without becoming too heavy for children to understand.
What i got from reading this, is that it's okay to be sad and reach out to others, and also that we shouldn't take the people we love for granted - or assume things about them without talking to them.

Overall, it was a great book that shows how to handle overwhelming negative emotions in a better way, while providing a great comic style and story i can easily see kids and adults alike enjoying. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

I received a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was absolutely stunning. I read it at a time when I really needed to, too. It's a beautiful story about loss, love, and family, and I can't recommend it enough.

This is a gorgeous and heartwarming story. Loss is hard, learning to live again after a loss is harder. Monsters are everywhere, how you deal with them is up to you, but that may have consequences for those you love. While intended for kids, between the beautiful illustrations and raw emotions here, Pilu of the Woods is a wholehearted read for all ages.

If I was giving out awards, there is no doubt in my mind that Pilu of the Woods would be getting the ‘cutest graphic novel of the year’ award. It’s charming, sweet, and has the perfect balance of fantasy and wonder, while also exploring the expansive set of emotions that come with loss.
Pilu of the Woods is a fantasy about loss and friendship. The main character is named Willow, and early on in the story she meets and befriends and odd sort of girl named Pilu. Together they find their way through the forest.
I believe their journey through the forest is symbolic, as they’re both working through complex emotions during the course of the story. Willow is grieving, and has clearly hit the anger stage, while Pilu feels like she’s too easily lost in a crowd, and thus unloved. While their pain is very different, they can still find common ground to understand.
This story brought tears to my eyes at point, while at others I could do nothing but hope that they would find their way through this mess. It was sad, it was heartbreaking, but it was also beautiful and heartwarming. I can’t praise it enough.

More than anything, I really just feel like I need to say that I LOVED THIS GRAPHIC NOVEL. Mental health isn't often addressed in such a gentle, easy to understand way, and Pilu did it in way that feels honest without being cliche or feeling like an afternoon special. The illustrations mirror the sentiments beautifully, and I felt like I was walking through the woods with an old friend. I will, without hesitation, be ordering Pilu of the Woods for our library. 5/5, will be reading again.

This all-ages book has breathtaking, gorgeous artwork and a heartbreakingly beautiful story. It deals with family, friendship, love and loss. I especially liked the way the main characters feelings of sadness and anger are brought to life as monsters which she must run from or learn to accept as part of herself. I really enjoyed reading Pilu of the Woods and can't wait to see what the author does in future.

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.

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

Pilu of the Woods is an educational book that should be read by every child at soon as they start reading and learning about life, nature and humans. This book teaches them about how and where mushrooms grow, about the beauty of the magnolia and the plants, their importance, but it also explains simple feelings and emotions like sadness, dissappoint, and love.
I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who wants to make a meaningful gift.