Pilu of the Woods by 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.
Rating: 
I bought this book because I stumbled upon the website for OniPress and this one caught my eye, so I ordered it.
The artwork is gorgeous and very earthy. It fits perfectly with the “woods” theme and yhere is so much information about trees, plants and part sof the woods. That was one of my favourite parts, how much Willow knows about the her surroundings when she is in nature.
Pilu is also very cute and not exactly what I expected but I liked her a lot.
The story itself is cute but it felt a little like it was trying hard to keep you interested, by not giving enough info, which wouldn’t have made the story any less if we had had it and probaly I would’ve been less distracted wondering why or what was omitted.
It has an educational point of view, and the topic is feelings and thoughts which are represented as this kind of bubbly creatures and I really found that a wonderful way of giving them “shape” in the story.
Overall, a nice warm story about family in a nature setting, and it also deals with how to deal with feelings and thoughts in general. Artwork is cute and very much in tune with OniPress and their style (or at least the ones I have read from them before).
