Looking for X

Looking for X is a children's novel written for ages 9-12^[1] by Deborah Ellis. This novel is about an eleven-year-old girl named Khyber that lives in a poorer area, Regent Park, in Toronto, Ontario. She lives there with her mother and her twin brothers who are both autistic. One day Khyber shows up at school and is accused of breaking the windows of her teacher's classroom. When she is expelled she sets off in the middle of the night to find her friend X, a homeless woman who lives in the park across the street from her house. She is the only one that can clear Khyber's name. She spends all night wandering the streets in search of X and has the adventure of a lifetime.

Awards

• Governor General's Literary Awards Winner 2000 Children's Literature (Text) Canada^[2]
• Runner-up in the Groundwood Twentieth Anniversary First Novel for Children Contest^[3]

Chapter summary

Chapter 1- Who We Are

The protagonist, Khyber, introduces her family. Her real name is not Khyber but she hates her “unspeakable name” so renamed herself after the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan. She lives with her mother Tammy, who is a former stripper and her twin brothers, David and Daniel who are five have autism. Khyber and her family live in Regent Park in Toronto, Ontario. She talks about how the people there are not that well off.

Chapter 2- The Stranger at the Table

Khyber comes home from school to see a social worker is at their house. Khyber does not like her. Khyber talks about how the social worker treats Tammy like she is a bad mom but Tammy tells her that’s not true and it was just because they were on welfare that the social worker had to ask so many questions. Khyber goes to Allan Gardens to visit X

Chapter 3- A Tree from Brazil and a Woman from Nowhere

When Khyber gets to the park she finds X. X is an older, homeless woman whom Khyber goes to visit as often as she can with a peanut butter and corn syrup sandwich. She goes and tells X about her day. She likes this because X just sits, eats her sandwich, and listens, X doesn't speak much herself. X moves around a lot because she is afraid that the "secret police" are after her.

Khyber talks about their apartment, which is small and minimal. Tammy has to spend most of the money they get on treatment and medication for the boys so their family does not have a TV or other types of luxury items. They don’t have any furniture in their house, just a couple mattresses and lots of pillows because it is safer for the boys. When they throw tantrums they bang their heads around and it’s better for them to hit something soft rather than hard furniture. The apartment has two bedrooms. David and Daniel have the biggest and Tammy sleeps in the second bedroom. Khyber sleeps in the alcove where she has a bed that is covered with a curtain

Chapter 4- The Conscience of the King

Tammy packs up the boys to take them to Khyber’s school play. Khyber does not seem to fit in with her classmates. She has issues with one girl in particular, Tiffany, who makes fun of Khyber for not being as developed as the other girls. The boys start to fuss in the audience and Tiffany makes fun of them. Khyber then goes on stage and defends her family and proceeds to walk off stage and leave with her mother and brothers.

Chapter 5- A Woman in White Turns Read

Khyber talks about how she works at the Trojan Horse Restaurant with her rude waitress friends Valerie. Khyber works for an hour doing odd jobs around the restaurant in exchange for breakfast. For her other job, Khyber goes and sits on a bench in Allan Gardens that is popular for wedding pictures. She sits and waits for a wedding party to show up. Once they show up she will only move if they pay her. Tammy does not know this and Khyber does not want to tell her because she is saving her money to buy the backpack she really wants.

Chapter 6- Troubled Waters

Tammy takes the kids for a picnic and ferry ride. On their way to the dock Khyber takes Tammy to the Army Surplus store to show her mom the backpack that she really wants. It cost $60 and so far Khyber had $14 saved from working weddings. When they are on the ferry Tammy tells Khyber that the boys are going to be moving to a group home. Khyber does not want to be separated from her brothers and has a fight with Tammy about it.

Chapter 7- In the Middle of the Night

While Khyber is sleeping Daniel tries to wake her up. This startled Khyber and she ends up hitting her brother who then falls off her bed and ends up with a huge gash on his head. Khyber cannot call 911 because Tammy used the phone bill money to buy vitamins for the boys. Since they cannot afford a taxi or the streetcar, Tammy and Khyber have to carry the boys for blocks to the hospital. Tammy blames the whole thing on Khyber, when really it’s just an accident. People stare at them because the boys sense the tension around them and are in unfamiliar areas and proceed to scream and carry on for most of the chapter.

Chapter 8- Fight

After being at the hospital all night Tammy tries to convince Khyber to stay home from school but she does not want to miss her history test. She ends up arriving at school late which Miss Melon is not impressed with and gives her detention. Khyber is so tired she falls asleep during her test; Miss Melon then humiliates her in the middle of the class by stating out loud that this is one test that will take her no time to mark. While she is outside during recess Khyber is confronted by Tiffany and her gang. They make fun of her for sleeping during their test, say she is on drugs and start calling her "Creeper". Khyber does her best to stay calm and does until Tiffany calls David and Daniel dogs and Khyber attacks her. Their fight causes quite the commotion and the teachers eventually break it up. Tiffany is taken straight to the nurse where she is treated right away. Khyber is not treated until Tammy finds her in the principal’s office still all bloody. Tammy stands up for Khyber against Miss Melon but Khyber is still suspended for the rest of the week for fighting.

Chapter 9- Exile

Part of Khyber’s punishment for being suspended is that Tammy does not let her have any free time. Tammy takes away her books, radio, and atlases while she is suspended. The only thing Khyber is allowed to do while she is suspended is chores and schoolwork. Tammy also makes her memorize the poem The Buried Life by Matthew Arnold and recite it. After her suspension is over Tammy tells Khyber that she has the option to go with Tammy and the boys to visit the group home or go and stay with Juba. Khyber, who is still against the idea of her brothers leaving, decides to stay with Juba.

Chapter 10- Danger in the Dark

While she stays at Juba’s Khyber gets to do things that she does not normally get to do. Juba lets her stay up late watching TV and even sets up a bed in the living room for Khyber so she can watch TV while she falls asleep like a “fancy lady”. When Khyber returns to school she has to get up in front of the class and apologize to Tiffany like she had practiced with Tammy. When Khyber gets home she sees that her mom has packed up all of the boys’ belongings and proceeds to unpack all the boxes. When she is getting rid of the boxes she sees X waiting for her and goes to visit her without leaving a note for Tammy. Khyber stays at the park for a long time visiting with X. She finds out that X used to be a folk singer and they sit and sing songs for a while. Their singing brings them the unwanted attention of the skinheads that hang out at the garden. As they try to leave the gang started to get physical with X and Khyber starts to fight them off. She fights them till a police car drives by and scares them away. X leaves and Khyber heads home. She sees that she has to walk past the skinheads to get home so she takes a detour and cuts through the school grounds to get home. When she gets home she lies to Tammy and says the reason her clothes are torn and muddy is because she fell on her way to visit X.

Chapter 11- Mud

When Khyber arrives at school she sees that someone has broken all the windows in Miss Melon’s classroom. She is then called to the principal’s office where she sees the principle, Miss Melon, her mom, and a police officer. They accuse Khyber of breaking the windows and expel her. She tries to defend herself by telling them she was with X. When asked for X’s real name and address, Tammy tells them that X is Khyber’s imaginary friend.

Chapter 12- Taking Leave

Feeling betrayed by her mother Khyber knows that the only way to clear her name is to find X. She waits for Tammy to fall asleep and she sneaks out in the middle of the night to go and find X.

Chapter 13- Tired Feet

Khyber spends all night looking for X but has no luck. She sees a lot of other homeless people and tries to image that this is what life is like for X. It is starting to get light out and Khyber has had no luck finding X. After checking the cemetery, she is so tired and her feet hurt, she finds a patch of green grass where she curls up and goes to sleep.

Chapter 14- Win Some, Lose Some

When she wakes up she continues on her journey. She meets a couple of other homeless people who she sits and chats with for a little bit. She even shares her sandwich with them. After their visit she goes back to trying to find X

Chapter 15- Bench-Sitting

Still searching for X she arrives at the Eatons Centre shopping mall where she tries to avoid drawing the attention of the security guards. She then decides that the best way to look for X would be to go to the roof where she could have a better view. She climbs up there and looks all around and still does not see X.

Chapter 16- Blue Suede Shoes

She has been searching for over 24 hours and still had not found X. As it is getting darker, she sees all of these people in costumes. She then remembers that it is Halloween talks about how much Tammy loves Halloween.

Chapter 17- Return

Khyber meets the T.A.G.E.Gs (The All Girls Elvis Group) who takes special interest in why she is wandering around all alone. When Khyber starts to cry they sing her a song in hopes of cheering her up. When that does not work they ask her what is wrong and Khyber tells them everything. They end up taking her home, where Khyber and her mom make up and spend the evening together while the boys play.

Chapter 18- Round-Up

The next day, the principal calls Tammy to tell her that they found the culprit who broke Miss Melon’s windows and that Khyber could return to school but Tammy tells him to “go suck an egg” and finds Khyber a different school. The boys end up moving to their group home but Khyber understands it is for the best. After they move out Tammy and Khyber feel like something is not right at home. With the help of one of the Elvis ladies Tammy was able to find a place for her and Khyber that was closer to the boys. Khyber has to say goodbye to Valerie who buys her the backpack that she wanted as a going away present and cries when Khyber leaves. She also says goodbye to X and gives her a map to their new home. Khyber is sad that she is leaving her friends but understand that it is the start of a new, exciting adventure.

Character list

Tammy

Tammy is Khyber's mother as well as a former stripper who is raising her three children on her own. She is a caring mother and would do anything for her children.

Khyber

Khyber is eleven years old and wants to be an explorer. She has three friends she talks about in this story are all adult, Khyber seems to have a hard time relating with children her age.

Brothers (David and Daniel)

Khyber's twin brothers who are five and have autism. They do not talk but seem to like it when Khyber takes them to Allan Gardens every day. They also love to play with buttons.

X

Her real name is never mentioned but Khyber calls her X. She is an older lady with short white hair and has lots of wrinkles. X spends most of her time in Allan Gardens. She carries around a blue suitcase and talks about staying away from the “secret police”. When Khyber goes to visit X she brings her a peanut butter and corn syrup. X is the one person that Khyber feels that she can confided in. Khyber likes to talk to her because she always listens. X does not reveal a lot about her own life, the most that she speaks in the book is when she tells Khyber that she used to be a folk singer.

Social Worker

The social worker has a lot of contact with Tammy about the boys. She is the one that Tammy talks to about moving the boys to a group home where they can get the help that they need. She is also the one that takes Tammy and the boys out there to visit group home. Khyber does not like her at the start of the book. She feels that just because of Tammy’s past and because they are on welfare, the social worker treats Tammy like she is a bad mother. As Khyber comes to terms with her brothers moving out she starts to view the social worker differently, and decides she is not as terrible as she thought she was

Tiffany

Tiffany is a girl who bullies Khyber. She constantly taunts her during the school play and makes fun of her brothers. Khyber is able to remain calm for the most part and does not become violent until Tiffany makes fun of her family. When they get into that fight at school the teachers take the side of Tiffany and tend to her first. Tammy is outraged when she arrives at the school and sees that her daughter has not even been given a bandage. By the sounds of it Tiffany is from a family that has a slightly higher social background then Khyber’s family. She also is the one who starts the fights with Khyber.

Miss Melon

Miss Melon is Khyber’s teacher. Miss Melon does not seem to like Khyber very well does what she can to embarrass her. She also is the first to blame Khyber for the fights with Tiffany and when her windows get broken

Juba

Juba is Tammy’s best friend. She is the one that Khyber stays with when Tammy goes to see the boys’ group home. Juba is the one that Tammy confides in about her children.

Valerie

Valerie is a grouchy waitress who Khyber works with. Khyber spends Saturday mornings working at the Trojan Horse Restaurant for one hour in exchange for breakfast. Khyber likes Valerie because she is so rude to the customers. Valerie has a tough exterior but has a soft side when it comes to babies or Khyber. When Khyber moves out of Regent Park, Valerie surprises her with the backpack that she had always wanted.

References