“The 1000-Year-Old Boy” by Ross Welford

Alfie Monk is 11 years old. He lives with his mother in a secluded house in the middle of some woods in northern England. A town is nearby, and it’s been growing steadily closer.

Alfie is 11, and he’s been 11 for more than a thousand years. He and his mother broke open two life pearls provided by his father and mixed it in their blood. They’re not immortal, but their bodies did stop aging.

They meet two children who live nearby and who are themselves 11 years old. Roxy lives with her disabled mother. Aidan lives next door, and his family has just moved to the area. When Alfie’s mother dies in a fire (never-aging bodies aren’t immune or resistant to death by accidents, like fire and drowning), Aidan and Roxy have to make two decisions. Do they help Alfie? And do they believe his story about being a thousand years old?

Ross Welford

The 1000-Year-Old Boy by British children’s writer Ross Welford tells the story pf Alfie, Aidan and Roxy, and what a cracking good story it is. Aidan and Roxy have to help Alfie navigate normal life, and help him escape of another of the “Never-Dead” on the scene – Aidan’s Uncle Jasper. When Alfie decides to find the one-remaining life pearl, the one he and his mother hid long ago and the one that will start the aging process again, Aidan and Roxy begin the adventure of a lifetime.

Welford is the author of three other children’s novels: Time Travelling with a Hamster, What Not to Do If You Turn Invisible, and The Dog Who Saved the World. He was a business editor and writer and television program producer before turning to the writing of children’s stories. He lives in London.

The 1000-Year-Old Boy is a delightful story, full of twists and turns, and describing what friendship truly means.