Book Review: Looking for X, by Deborah Ellis

"Mom used to be a stripper.
 She quit when I came along. She calls it exotic dancing, which isn't quite right. It is dancing, but exotic doesn't mean dancing while you take your clothes off. Inuit dancing could be exotic, but that's not what Mom did. 
 She made good money at it, but it all sort of drained away. Before I was born, she was poor, and we've been poor ever since.
 A lot of people think that just because Mom used to be a stripper, her children are screwed up and will stay screwed up forever. Not so. My brothers would have been the way they are no matter how Mom paid her rent. 
 If I'm screwed up when I become an adult. it will be my own fault. If I'm screwed up now - well, I'm not, so there's nothing more to say about that. Sometimes strippers like to travel. I'd like that."
 Deborah Ellis, Looking for X

 And so begins the wonderful book that is Looking for X.

 In Looking for X, eleven-year-old Khyber lives with her mother Tammy, her autistic younger brothers David and Daniel, who are twins, in the Regent Park section of Toronto, Ontario.
" "They should have called it Pauper Park," I said once to Tammy. "No one would want to live here then," she replied. "Hardly anyone wants to live here now," I answered."

 Khyber has a friend called X, who is homeless and she meets in Allan Gardens. Khyber gives her peanut butter and corn syrup sandwiches, which creates a sort of bond between them.
 Khyber also works at the Trojan Horse restaurant with Valerie, who was named the meanest waitress in Toronto. Khyber mops the floors in exchange for a free breakfast.
 After a visit to X that ends with a fight with neighborhood rough people, Khyber comes home muddy and scraped. Her mother suspects that she was fighting, but Khyber doesn't say anything. Later, Tammy reveals that Khyber's classroom windows were shattered and that Khyber is the main suspect. Khyber runs away to look for X, who is the only one who can vouch for her.


 I loved this book. It's well written, and it is very sad in some parts. Tammy grows from being quiet and motherly to being harsher and quicker to anger, which is interesting to read about. Khyber is a likable protagonist, but X is rather underdeveloped.

 I rate this four out of five stars.