Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2018

The 1,000 Year Old Boy

By Welford Ross

A boy, destined to live forever, seeks a way to grow up.

4.2/5 Goodreads · 5,933 ratings

400 pages

In stock. Also at Amazon or Bookshop.

Bookroo's summary

Alfie Monk, seemingly an ordinary eleven-year-old, is actually over a thousand years old. Gifted with eternal life, he has witnessed history unfold. But when a fire destroys his world, Alfie, with friends Aidan and Roxy, must find a way to reverse his immortality and experience life as a normal boy. As they embark on this epic quest, they confront the mysteries of existence and the true meaning of life. Will Alfie finally achieve his dream of growing up, or is he destined to remain a child forever?

From the publisher

A heartstopping, poignant, epic adventure story about a boy destined to live forever, who only wants to grow up. Without death, life is just existence.Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live forever? Well, Alfie Monk can tell you. He may seem like an ordinary eleven-year-old boy, but he’s actually more than a thousand years old–and remembers the last Viking invasion of England, not to mention the French Revolution and both World Wars. Way back in the tenth century, he and his mother were given the alchemical secret to eternal life. But when everything Alfie knows is destroyed in a fire, and the modern world intrudes, he must embark on a mission–along with friends Aidan and Roxy–to find a way to reverse the process and grow up like a regular boy. This astonishing new novel from the author of Time Traveling with a Hamster, told in alternating perspectives by Alfie and Aidan, is a tour de force–a sweeping epic that takes you on an unforgettable, breathtaking adventure and asks big questions about the meaning of life.

At a glance