Content Warning: This section discusses themes of grief, parental loss, and trauma. It also mentions underage drinking and panic attacks.

How to Make Friends With the Dark is primarily about grief, and it explores the idea of grief mainly through Tiger’s story. She struggles to cope with loss, and the novel shows that this is to be expected; the process of grieving is a journey from the immediate intensity of loss to a gradual acceptance. Tiger discovers, however, that the pain of grief will never leave her and that this is a common experience.

Tiger struggles to cope with June’s death—her bereavement is sudden and unexpected. Also, her grief is complicated by a number of factors, including the absence of any other family, inadequate finances, and her unstable living circumstances. Tiger is a child—she is only 16—and since she has no material or emotional support, she is thrown into the foster care system without warning. She struggles because the system focuses more on processes than people, and The Challenges of the Foster Care System forms another intersecting, central theme in the book. Over time, however, Tiger has a few positive experiences within the system as well—like her encounters with LaLa, Thaddeus, and Teddy—and these help her heal.