LRC Book Critic book review - The 1,000 Year Old Boy by Ross Welford

AR Book Level: 5.1

This book is written by Ross Welford. He writes children’s book and other well known books including:  time travelling with a hamster and what not to do if you turn invisible.

This book is about a ‘1,000 year old boy’, who is called Alfie Monk. But you might be wondering, HOW IS HE A THOUSAND YEARS OLD? Well, when he was eleven he swallowed a life pearl. There are only 5 life pearls in the whole entire world, and they are highly valued and rare. So his dad got his hands on all 5 and swallowed one himself, and so did his wife. But it was only afterwards did he find out that even though you are immortal, you can still die. So with his father dead, he lives with his mum and a cat (called Biffa). Who he also gave a life pearl to swallow…

So they live forever, him, his mum and Biffa. Everything goes well until one day he was due a DNA test to see if he was really 1,000 years old. After all, Alfie had kept it a secret from rest of the world. That’s when he knew he had to get the remaining last pearl and live a normal life as he was sick of not being able to grow up, but not without his loyal friends, Aidan and Roxy of course.

My favourite character is Roxy because she is very unique and at first she though Aiden’s mum was a witch! In addition, my favourite part of the book is when the explorer comes to Alfie’s class and explains what happened in the past but Alfie corrects her mistakes as he lives through them. My least favourite part of the book is when when the person swallowing the life pearl has to cut themselves and there is a lot of  pain involved…