"[11] They further highlighted how "Davies’s [...] freewheeling digital art keeps pace with the encouraging narration, and the concluding image—of a rocket scientist water-skiing atop a rhino while wearing a colander on her head—cements the idea that, when it comes to storytelling, anything is possible.
"[11] School Library Journal's Julie Roach wrote, "The bubbly, appealing art has punchy humor and works as an ongoing conversation with the narration, bringing the fumbling but exciting progress of crafting a new story to life.
[14] The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, published May 5, 2020, by Candlewick Press, follows Flora (a girl), who becomes Florian (a man) aboard the pirate ship Dove.
[15] In a starred review, Shelf Awareness's Lynn Becker highlighted how Tokuda-Hall "crafted a brooding, magical adventure with a healthy dose of intrigue," stating, "Her prose is delightful, by turns delicate and brutal, as her plot demands.
'"[16] Publishers Weekly highlighted how "Tokuda-Hall aptly explores themes of gender identity and misogyny while illustrating colonialism’s horrors" and further discussed how the book provides "a global viewpoint that ripples through the story without disrupting the narrative.
[20] Squad, illustrated by Lisa Sterle and published October 5, 2021, by Greenwillow Books, is a graphic novel that tells the story of three popular high school girls who befriend fellow student Becca.
Every full moon, "choose one sexually aggressive male as their victim—attacking at the moment when a party hookup turns nonconsensual"; they need Becca "to help them fully devour their prey.
"[3] To represent this, Tokuda-Hall crafted the character of Arianna, who is white and the pack's leader, to be "perfectly comfortable doing things like weaponizing her tears, belittling the women of color that she surrounds herself with, [and] using her own power to keep them down to her own detriment.
"[24] Regarding the artwork, Felton wrote, "Sterle's art is both stylish and sinister, effortlessly shifting between panels of humorous character interactions and gruesome gore.
[34] In April 2023, Scholastic's Education division proposed obtaining the rights to publish the picture book for inclusion in a collection called Amplifying AANHPI (Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders).
[35] The collection is part of the Rising Voices Library, which curates books along with teaching materials for educators, aiming to offer students engaging texts that highlight the narratives of historically marginalized groups.