I fell in love with the gorgeous artwork immediately. But do not be fooled by the overall cuteness, because the story is actually very heavy and dark and there are monsters hiding on every frame.


This is a story of a little girl named Willow. She lives with her family near a lovely forest. It's pretty clear from the start that she is very unhappy and does not get on well with kids at school and with her sister. One day, she meets a cute but lost little forest spirit named Pilu and helps her find her way home. In the process of helping Pilu, Willow also discovers the path to facing her own problems.


The use of color themes to differentiate between past and present is very helpful and really helps the reading experience. It’s a bit text heavy for a graphic novel, but it's something I can forgive with this one. The story is a metaphor for mental illness and for such a complicated topic, I think the author still did a great job.


It’s about depression and anxiety and how it affects our family and friends. Mental health is an issue we should be aware of even at a young age. It's also about loss of loved ones and how to move on as a family after such a tragedy. The story reminds us to be kind to everyone we meet because we don’t know what struggles they are going through.


I also love the message that it's okay to cry sometimes--crying is not a sign of weakness if it means we are being in touch with our emotions and honest with our reactions to our environment.


It’s all about learning to accept who you are in order to start the process of loving yourself. My favorite part of this story is its message to be kind to your monsters--not necessarily letting them win, but to understand them, and work with them to be able to function normally as a whole being. This is a concept I rarely see and it was illustrated so simply and brilliantly.


I would highly recommend this book to anyone who needs more books about mental health awareness, beautiful friendships, and to everyone else who loves great stories and art.

Oh gosh, this is so adorable! I love the story and illustrations. Definitely one of my favorites from 2018. It's the cutest thing and an heart-warming graphic novel with relatable characters and with and important message to say . Deal with your monsters, don't be afraid of your feelings, trust people, listen to yourself and more than that, respect yourself and others. I simply loved everything on this graphic novel. Really, just read it! It says it's middle grade but I assure you that adults can read it, have fun and learn something from it.

This is wonderful graphic novel for kids of any age with gorgeous nature scenery for anyone who remembers exploring the woods.

I originally picked up this book since the art looked really good and I wanted to see what the next generation of comic artists will be making plus support a fellow Vietnamese American! Nguyen also did a nature-focused comic that dealt with flooding in a Kickstarter anthology that I backed in 2012, so I’m glad she continued with comics.

Willow runs away with her dog to the woods after a fight with her sister and finds the lost forest spirit Pilu. I liked the friendship scenes where they’re both explaining some random cool facts about mushrooms or flowers. Also, Willow has a problem with “monsters” that she pushes and hides away, which is a metaphor for her intense feelings that end up manifesting at the end of the book. You will want to give Willow a hug by the end of story as it slowly reveals that she’s still suffering from her mother’s recent death and missing her mother terribly.

I really enjoyed reading this and hope that there will be more stories from this creator! The way that she draws people, spirits, animals, and nature is quite cute. My favorite part were the cute monsters that show up in the background whenever Willow gets angry or super sad; they look like forest spirits from a Miyazaki movie.

Note: I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I’m looking forward to the new gen of artists from Oni Press if this was just a taste of their 2019 Graphic Novels!

Nguyen’s colourful, cartoony illustrations were beautiful and really emotive which was perfect for such a melancholic book. This is a children’s book which deals with topics of dealing with sadness, loneliness and the loss of a parent as well as communicating those feelings with your loved ones. Willow’s negative emotions are personified as monster inside which she suppresses and causes to lash out at her family members and those around her when her monsters overwhelmed her.

I really related to Willow and her feelings because I also personified my depression as a monster (even though I’m an adult lol) which is probably the reason I was reading this through tears. Pilu, the lost forest spirit Willow helps was adorable and dealings with her own feelings of loneliness.

I really loved how the characters became friends and learned to deal with their feelings and problems together as they traveled through the forest. I especially liked all the illustrations of the forest and learning about flowers and trees and mushrooms they saw along the way.

I highly recommend this to anyone of any age! This was really moving and the illustrations were so wonderful. I’m so glad I was given the privilege of being able to read this.

This was such a touching and lovely story. I loved it so so much! I even cried a little towards the end. would definitely recommend this one. Thank you Oni Press for the ARC!

This comic is so amazing! I am in love with it and I must admit that I cried a bit.
It has a beautiful message for kids, teenagers, adults and old people.
We must listen to our feelings and not reprimand them, because it only makes them worse. They don't want to be alone and not attended.
The graphics are so beautiful and Willow and Pilu is so cute!!

The art in the graphic novel is beautiful--I really love it so much. The forest setting was very immersive, and I appreciated Pilu's character design and the touches of Willow's boots and Pilu's feet.

I liked the parts of Willow's character that we got to see, though the book was pretty surface in that regard due to the length of the novel. The story was very sweet as well, I just had a few problems with it.

I'm a mostly grown adult, and a few of the transitions were confusing, and I thought one of the flashbacks was happening in the present day. While I appreciated the incorporation of botany facts, it felt a bit "preachy." I loved that it was there, I just wished the tone of it had come across differently. And I was also bothered by how Willow never admitted to Pilu that Willow's mother was dead, but that the story tried to make it seem like Willow and Pilu were the best of friends and that they had overcome their monsters. But, again, it was a lovely, whimsical story, and I'm glad I read it.

Willow loves nature, and one day she runs away into the woods behind her house, and stumbles upon an unexpected friend, Pilu. Together, they talk about nature, the monsters that haunt them, and the problems they are experiencing with their family. The story is beautifully written, encompasses so many emotions, and the art is gorgeous. I highly recommend this graphic novel not just for middle grade readers, but for teens and adults too. Also, you may need to have a tissue handy.

Thank you NetGalley and OniPress for providing me with an advanced copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

This was amazing. Story was really cute and heartwarming. I cried while i reading this. I recommended for everyone who deals with loss. It was a perfect little story.

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.

Pilu of the Woods is a cute graphic novel for 2nd-4th graders. It's the story of Willow, who, in a fit of anger and embarrassment at home, runs to find solace in her beloved woods. There, she comes across a wood nymph named Pilu who is lost. Because of her extensive knowledge of the woods (Willow and her dad, who is a professor, visit the woods each week to identify leaves, trees, flowers, and other flora), Willow is able to take Pilu back to her grove. Along the way, the two become friends as they both have experienced the same feelings: bottling up the mean thoughts, the hurt flung at them by bullies, and the niggling thoughts that invade their consciousness leads to angry outbursts where one says things they don't actually mean. Through this dialogue (and the physical manifestation of these little "monsters" of angry thoughts), the reader also learns about how it isn't good to bottle up emotions and thoughts, but also how to go home and apologize. I know that many elementary students will find it helpful, but I will definitely be recommending it to sp-ed teachers who work with students who have anger issues.

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.

A heartwarming tale about friendship and how to deal with your feelings. This was obviously targeted for middle school age children, but there's enough there to like about it for all ages. The art is fantastic. It reads like a picture book in graphic novel form.

Willow has a fight with her sister and runs off into the woods. There she runs into a tree nymph that also has run away after a fight with her mother. As Willow helps her find her way home, they become friends while learning how to process their feelings. Willow's dad is a botanist and we also learn about several of the plants growing in the forest. Make sure you have a box of tissues by you, the story will more than likely make you weep.

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.

I was ecstatic to find that Pilu of the Woods has already been selected as a Junior Library Guild selection, because that means I get a copy shipped to my library automatically! I don't really know what I was expecting going in to the book, but it was so much more than whatever that was. It has so much more depth than I thought I would be reading and I think kids are going to appreciate that (I know I certainly did).

Aww, this was really cute. I really love the art style and I thought the switch from past to present was pretty straightforward by the style changes. The story is great, dealing with death of a loved one, grieving, finding your place, and forgiving.

Willow is a bit of an outcast who likes learning about things, especially plants since her father is professor of nature (for lack of a better term since I don't remember if it said exactly). In her interest of learning she's looked down on by her peers as well as other problems at home, like her older sister Linnea.

So, in trying to avoid her problems she turns to the forest near their home, where she has explored with her parents previously. Willow runs into someone unexpected there, a (young dryad) sapling who isn't having the best day either. They help each other deal with their problems but in the interest of not spoiling I won't go into further detail.

Pilu of the Woods is simply adorable. Even if it's aimed at kids, can appreciate how this story was crafted to explore complex feelings of loss and loneliness, and how wanting to help someone in the same position can force us to confront our own "monsters".

Willow has a fight with her older sister and runs off into the woods with her dog, where they discovers a tree spirit named Pilu crying under a tree for surprisingly similar reasons. As Willow convinced Pilu that she needs to go home, we gradually learn Willow's own sad history and origin of her monsters.

I also loved the nerdy forest facts Willow learned from her father, dispensed like a kid who finds willing ears for the first time but even then there was a limit to how much an audience could take. It came to a nice resolution for the overall theme.

Great artwork and colour palette!

ARC courtesy of NetGalley. #PiluOfTheWoods #NetGalley

This was one of the cutest graphic novels I have ever read. It deals with something very heavy, children dealing with the death of a parent and the “monsters” inside your head that make you say things you don’t mean.
The art style was completely amazing and I actually took my time to look at each picture carefully even if there were no words on it because it was the beautiful.
This was a very short graphic novel and took maybe half an hour/45 minutes to read. I got so connected to Willow and Pilu. I don’t have any idea how in such a short book. I even teared up at the end.
If you are looking for an amazingly beautiful short graphic novel, I highly recommend this one!

In Pilu of the Woods, a girl named Willow stumbles upon a lost tree (nymph? spirit?) and helps her find her way home. Along the way, they make discoveries about the woods and themselves.

I loved the illustrations in this -- so whimsical and pretty, and a lovely compliment to the sweet story. It took me a while to catch on to what the monsters were meant to be, but I could see that as a potential opening for conversation with a young reader. There were some lines that really struck me. I think this would be a great, safe resource for kids who are trying to come to terms with their feelings (especially of grief and loneliness).

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Well butter my biscuit, we have one heck of an adorable graphic novel!

The story is quite simple at first. We are following a young girl named Willow is not having the best of days. After arguing with her sister, she runs out into the woods which first off, I need to mention the art here. It is lush and full of greenery and perfection and I want to live here! Willows suddenly has a run in with Pilu a tree spirit who is also.. well not having the best day and they join together to help journey back home.

This was amazing! I had been told this would be a cute read but I was not prepared by the loveliness of the art and the characters. This graphic novel is full of life and flair and it is perfect for kids and adults alike. The art stye is definitely one of my new favorites with its whimsical, woodsy subject matter. It reflected this in its use of gold, olive, and muted jewel tones.

The ending was the best part in my opinion. It was both hopeful and triumphant and it made me smile so much. I'm looking forward to more of this author's work!