WINNER of the 2025 Governor General’s Literary Award — Young People’s Literature — Text
One of Quill & Quire’s Favourite Young Readers Titles of 2024
A 2025 Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year
A 2025 Forest of Reading Red Maple Honour Book
Shortlisted for the 2025 Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Awards
An OLA Best Bet
A Starred Selection of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Best Books for Kids and Teens, Spring 2025
PRAISE FOR Tig:
“A devastatingly honest novel about foster care, neurodivergence, family, and resilience.” —STARRED REVIEW, School Library Journal
“In the complex, unforgettable Tig, Heather Smith explores the stunning (and sometimes self-sabotaging) resourcefulness children can muster in the face of adversity.” —STARRED REVIEW, Shelf Awareness
“With a gentle touch and a dollop of humour, Smith unveils Tig’s painful history and then leads her back towards love, in the form of two uncles, a dog and a wheel of cheese. This taut, powerful novel will make you angry and hopeful; it will make you cry and laugh, sometimes all on the same page. Tig is truly a love story.” —Governor General’s Literary Award Assessment Committee
“A moving, accessible tale of trauma, laced with a compelling sense of optimism.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Smith’s short, beautifully written, chapterless work contains many section breaks and should appeal to reluctant readers. For middle-grade readers, especially fans of melancholy yet hopeful family tales of overcoming adversity.” —Booklist
“Smith writes here for a younger audience but with only slightly less painful details. Her writing is succinct and often heartbreaking to read, yet beautifully phrased, filled with believable and memorable characters . . . [I]mportant and unforgettable.” —CM: Canadian Review of Materials
“Through Tig’s eyes, readers experience the profound truth that family isn’t always defined by blood, but by the bonds of understanding and acceptance forged through shared experiences.” —Young Adulting
“It’s a story about addiction, abandoned children, survival, imaginary friends, love, and family. The reader will be subjected to lots of new vocabulary words, as one of Tig’s interests is reading the dictionary, learning new words, and using them in sentences.” —Story Monsters Ink
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