The 1,000-year-old boy

Ross Welford

Book - 2019

Alve Einarsson has lived for a thousand years and is destined to live forever, but yearns to find a way to grow older, just like any other eleven-year-old boy.

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Subjects
Published
New York : Schwartz & Wade Books [2019]
Language
English
Main Author
Ross Welford (author)
Edition
First U.S. edition
Item Description
"Originally published in paperback in the UK by HarperCollins Children's Books, London, in 2018."
Physical Description
391 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9780525707455
9780525707462
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

It all started as a lark: Aiden and Roxy, his petite and very capable next-door neighbor, spying on the mysterious cottage in the woods, where Alfie, who looks about 11 years old, lives with his mother. But soon the real adventure begins. After Alfie escapes from the house fire that kills his mother, he hides out in Roxy's shed. Befriending her and Aidan, Alfie confides that he, one of the legendary Neverdeads, is more than 1,000 years old. And gradually, reluctantly, they come to believe him. In order to retrieve a hidden life-pearl that will enable Alfie to grow up, age, and die normally, they carry out a plan that endangers them all. Shifting between the two boys' points of view, the dual first-person narrative begins with Aiden lonely and out of sorts in his new neighborhood. It gradually builds in intensity as Alfie's situation becomes increasingly desperate. The author of Time Traveling with a Hamster (2016) and What Not to Do If You Turn Invisible (2018), Welford is an English writer with a gift for storytelling and a good sense of what will intrigue readers, what will amuse them, and how to juxtapose the two effectively. This well-paced novel will resonate with thoughtful readers.--Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2019 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

When one's permanently stuck at age 11, living forever can lose its appeal.Being one of the legendary "Neverdead" thanks to a magic potion, Alve (aka "Alfie") has spent the past millennium or so with his equally immortal mom and cat, just getting by and keeping out of sight. What has become increasingly difficult in today's Britain turns impossible when, tragically, his mother is killed (they are not invulnerable) in a house fireleaving him injured, traumatized, and all too exposed to local police and social services. Fortunately, there's an antidote to the potion. Unfortunately, he's outwardly 11 (albeit polylingual, classically educated, and well versed in 17th-century fighting techniques) and owns nothing except a rescued trunk of autographed Dickens first editions. Welford gives his world-weary protagonist several resourceful allies led by Roxy Minto, a young neighbor of West Indian descent with a big personality, and her nave but game sidekick, Aidan (who, like Alve, presents as white and who shares narration duties with him). Alve not only has to cope with modern life and elude civil authorities, but also to evade a brutal adversary who's been after the antidote for centuries. If readers find themselves wishing for more than tantalizing glimpses of Alve's experiences in earlier centuries, his immediate plight is absorbing, as sharply felt as both the weight of all those years and the shining promise of being able to grow up at last.The sweet and sour of immortality infuses a heady, heartbreaking, occasionally humorous tale. (Fantasy. 11-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

South Shields, A.D. 1014     We sat on the low cliff, Mam and I, overlooking the river mouth, and watched the smoke from our village over on the other side pluming into the sky and mixing with the clouds.   Everyone calls the river the Tyne. Back then, we pronounced it "Teen," but it was just our word for river.   As we sat, and Mam wept and cursed with fury, we heard screams from across the water. The smell of smoke from the burning wooden fort on the clifftop drifted toward us. People--our neighbors mostly--huddled on the opposite bank, but Dag the ferryman was not going to go back for them. Not now: he would be killed too. He had run away from us, stammering apologies, as soon as his raft had touched the shore.   Above the people cowering on the bank, the men who had come in boats appeared. They paused--arrogantly, fearlessly--then walked over to their prey, swords and axes at the ready. I saw some people entering the water to try to escape. They would not get far: a smaller boat waited mid-river to intercept them.   I lowered my head and buried it in Mam's shawl, but she pulled it away and wiped her eyes. Her voice trembled with rage.   "Sey, Alve. Sey!" That is how we spoke then. "Old Norse" it is called now, or a dialect of it. We didn't call it anything. She meant, "Look! Look at what they are doing to us, those men who have come from the north in their boats."   But I could not. Getting up, I walked in a kind of daze for some distance, but I could still hear the murder, still smell the smoke. I felt wretched for being alive. Behind me, Mam pulled the little wooden cart that was loaded with whatever stuff we'd managed to fit onto Dag's river ferry.   My cat, Biffa, walked beside us, darting into the grass on the side of the path in pursuit of a mouse or a grasshopper. Normally this made me smile, but I felt as empty as if I had been cut open.   A mile or two on, Mam and I found a cave in a deep, sheltered bay. The sun was strong enough to use the old fire-glass that had belonged to Da: a curved, polished crystal that focused the sunlight into a thin beam that would start a fire. I was scared the raiders would come after us, but Mam said they would not, and she was right. We had escaped.   Three days later, we saw their boats heading out to sea again and I made the biggest mistake of my life. A mistake that I waited a thousand years to put right. Excerpted from The 1,000-Year-Old Boy by Ross Welford All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.