Mai K. Nguyen

"Pilu of the Woods is a heartwarming tale full of natural wonder, with wise and lovely messages about coping with grief, facing your feelings, and learning to forgive yourself." - KATIE O'NEILL (Eisner Award-winning author of The Tea Dragon Society) For fans of Anya's Ghost and I Kill Giants comes PILU OF THE WOODS, a heartwarming and bittersweet story of friendship, loss, exploring complex emotions and finding your way home from debut creator Mai K. Nguyen. Willow loves the woods near her house. They’re calm and quiet, so different from her own turbulent emotions, which she keeps locked away. When her emotions get the better of her one day, she decides to run away into the woods. There, she meets Pilu, a lost tree spirit who can’t find her way back home—which turns out to be the magnolia grove Willow’s mom used to take her to. Willow offers to help Pilu, and the two quickly become friends. But the journey is long, and Pilu isn’t sure she’s ready to return home yet—which infuriates Willow, who’s determined to make up for her own mistakes by getting Pilu back safely. As a storm rages and Willow’s emotions bubble to the surface, they suddenly take on a physical form, putting both girls in danger… and forcing Willow to confront her inner feelings once and for all. BONUS CONTENT: This edition includes blank journal pages in the back to encourage readers to keep their own notes about nature and their feelings.

Pilu of the Woods

Zia Nazaliah Ainisyifa

bagus banget ilustrasinya dan pesan yg disampaikan >

Stef

"Just because you can't see it, doesn't it's not important...doesn't mean it's gone. That's how it's in Nature.

Izza

Callie Anna

This graphic novel was the perfect example of using the medium to enhance the (already lovely) story.

Lauren Sullivan

Content warnings: (view spoiler)[bullying, grief (death of main character’s mother before the book began) (hide spoiler)]

This is so gorgeous and adorable. It’s marketed as a middle-grade graphic novel, but I enjoyed it immensely and think the lesson would be applicable to and accessible to most ages.

After an argument with her older sister, Willow runs away into the woods where she meets a fellow runaway, a wood spirit named Pilu. While Willow is angry over her sister’s criticism, Pilu feels ignored by her mother, and believes that she won’t even miss her now that she’s run away. As Willow works to change Pilu’s mind and get her home, Pilu helps her rethink how she’s been dealing with her emotions after her mother’s death.



I found this a thoughtful and gentle exploration of what Willow calls her “angry little monsters” – thoughts and feelings that make you feel helpless and small. Willow promised her mother before she died that she’d be strong, and Willow’s taken that having to repress her grief and pain, to not cry. But bottling up her feelings doesn’t work, and just ends in her lashing out at her loved ones. Pilu tells Willow that “the more you ignore something, the louder it gets” – that nobody likes being ignored, and neither do feelings. I feel like anthropomorphizing each girl’s feelings into monsters helped take a difficult subject and make this age-appropriate (and frankly I found them adorable!). Sometimes, especially when dealing with things of this nature, books get very preachy, but I didn’t find that the case with this one. The message meshed nicely with the girls’ adventure.

The book’s title does have the word “woods” in it, so it’s no surprise that the outdoors is featured prominently. Most of the book is spent in the woods near her house, and it’s obvious that Willow (and the author) has a deep love of nature. On top of that, the art is absolutely gorgeous. This is seriously one of the most beautiful graphic novels I’ve ever read, and I frequently paused when reading to just take in a panel. The colors are deep and perfectly matched, done in a watercolor style that fits well with the depictions of nature and the story overall.



Overall, I very much enjoyed this, even though I’m outside the target age range. Not only did I preorder a copy for my kids, but I also hunted down the author on twitter (@ohmaipie), so I will definitely be looking forward to more from her in the future!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Grace O'Callaghan

The winner of the cutest graphic novel goes to Pilu of the Woods. In this stunning comic we follow Willow as she struggles with her feelings and one day they get pretty bad so she runs away into the woods. There she meets Pilu, a woodland creature who feels alone, even when surrounded by her family. Together they take on an adventure and must both face their feelings head on.

New favourite art. I swear I say that for every comic I read but it’s true. I’m obsessed with the busy yet simple design and the earthy colour palette. I honestly might have to buy this graphic novel, the art was that great.

This is a children’s story so it is pretty simplistic, but it was still a very powerful tale that I’d highly recommend giving to a child in your life. It’s all about not ignoring your emotions and trying to distinguish the good from the bad. It discusses a bit about plants and nature and to not destroy it which is always an important message. Grief was also a small portion of the story.

The characters themselves were delightful. Willow finds her emotions can get the best of her and she doesn’t like that about herself. She does get bullied at school for crying so she associates that with weakness. 
Pilu too is struggling with feeling lonely and not wanting to talk about her feelings and it was so lovely to see these two become friends and overcome their struggles.

All in all if you’re looking for a stunning graphic novel with about not hiding from your emotions, you should definitely pick this up or give it to a child in your life.

For fans of Anya's Ghost comes PILU OF THE WOODS, a heartwarming story of friendship, loss, and finding your way home from debut author/illustrator Mai K. Nguyen. Willow loves the woods near her house. They’re calm and quiet, so different from her own turbulent emotions, which she keeps locked away. When her emotions get the better of her one day, she decides to run away into the woods. There, she meets Pilu, a lost tree spirit who can’t find her way back home—which turns out to be the magnolia grove Willow’s mom used to take her to. Willow offers to help Pilu, and the two quickly become friends. But the journey is long, and Pilu isn’t sure she’s ready to return home yet—which infuriates Willow, who’s determined to make up for her own mistakes by getting Pilu back safely. As a storm rages and Willow’s emotions bubble to the surface, they suddenly take on a physical form, putting both girls in danger… and forcing Willow to confront her inner feelings once and for all.

Lily D

Renee Delcourt

This middle grade graphic novel was so sweet and heartwarming. I'm a big sap so I definitely got emotional towards the end.

It's full of fall vibes and deals with grief in a way that makes it more relatable and SAFE for children to explore in healthy ways. Even without the grief the main message of the story is so important for not just children to hear but adults too. I think learning to handle your bad feelings and emotions instead of hiding them away is hard for everyone and will really hit home with many ages, not just children. 

I would definitely recommend this if you have a middle grade reader or children in general who may need a gentle reminder that it's okay to feel your emotions, and its okay to talk about those feelings.

Kelsey Holtaway

Fully fleshed out with strong character backgrounds and also SO pretty and ethereal. Loved how the author captured dealing with feelings so well.

K.J. Haakenson

This book broke my heart and put it back together again 🥺❤️‍🩹 a wonderful perspective on living with grief.

Anyaconda

OMG! This was the cutest and most heart-warming graphic novel I read this year!
I loooooved the little monsters and the art style is absolutely fantastic.
I want more like this. I can recommend this to anybody, children and grown-up children.

Manon van Heumen

This comic was absolutely amazing!
I really loved reading it, and the story displayed some very great topics. I really loved it.

Pilu of the Woods

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