What is the author's message in Tears of a Tiger by Sharon M. Draper?

The messages of Tears of a Tiger are that drinking and driving is destructive behavior and that healing is a complicated process that involves lots of support.

After Robbie is killed in the wreck, everyone at school has to react to the tragedy. They're in shock and grief. It's difficult for his friends to find meaning and happiness in their daily lives now that their friend is gone. Guilt is a major hurdle for Andy, who was drinking and driving when they wrecked. It's clear throughout the book that the action of drinking and driving isn't worth the pain it causes.

Andy looks for help in a variety of places, like friends, family, and a counselor. However, ultimately he's unable to overcome his grief. No one is there to talk to him at a crucial moment in his grief, and he ends up committing suicide. Ultimately, drinking and driving is the catalyst for more than one death. Andy's journey through loss and grief shows how complicated healing is, and that even support and guidance may not be enough to help someone overcome deep feelings of guilt.

On her website, Sharon M. Draper says,

Another student wrote that he was depressed and was thinking of taking his life, but after reading Tears of a Tiger, he decided to live. I counseled him to talk to someone he trusted, and he wrote me back that he had. Another student said she was reading Tears of a Tiger in class and that weekend some of her friends were drinking at a party. She thought about BJ in the book (who doesn’t drink), so she called her mother to come and pick her up. Her friends were killed that night in an automobile accident.

So it's clear that her messages have been received by readers.

"Tears of a Tiger" was originally written to stand alone, but it has become known as part of Sharon Draper's trilogy about "Hazelwood High."  In the other books, two characters are more fully developed. 

In "Tears of a Tiger" the subject of drinking and driving and its negative results are described with graphic detail.  After tragedies, one character commits suicide.  Topics that are, indeed, relevant to teens, this novel is of great interest to many adolescents.  The impact of this novel is also great as Ms. Draper's message, or moral truth, certainly comes through:  The dangers of drinking and driving cause results that cannot be reversed;  lives are lost and others are irrevocably changed.

Why did Sharon Draper write Tears of a Tiger?

Sharon Draper wrote Tears of a Tiger as a personal challenge to herself.  She had been teaching high school and middle school for many years and just knew she "could write a book that they would love from the very first page" (Sharon Draper website).  She wanted to capture their imagination, so she chose high interest issues, focusing on students with real problems.  Tears of a Tiger focuses on sensitive teen issues like drinking and driving and suicide, but Draper did not write the story from any personal experience. 

On Sharon Draper's website, she writes this about Tears of a Tiger:

"I don’t think I had a grand plan in mind when I wrote it. I just wanted to write a good book. I certainly had no agenda designed to send a message to young people. When students ask me today 'What do you think we should learn from this book?' I tell them 'Whatever you got out of it!'"(qtd. in Sharon Draper website)

Draper definitely succeeded in her personal challenge.  Tears of a Tiger has won numerous awards and resonates powerfully with student readers.