The 1,000 Year Old Boy By Ross Welford
Message for parents:
Every child joining Framwellgate School Durham has been gifted a copy of this book to read during the summer break.
In September we will be engaging in various activities based on this book, so it is important that everyone at least tries to read it. Students will meet the author on the 24th September in school, and they will be able to have their copy of the book signed!
We understand that some students might be put off by the size of the book, but if you take a look inside you will see that the chapters are very short and the writing is not at all difficult.
A great way to read this would be to try to read 2 or 3 chapters every day – that’s only about 6 pages.
Sometimes it is good to share a book, so maybe if you read a chapter to your child each evening, they can then read another 2 themselves. The next night they can tell you what happened so that the book makes sense to you when you read them the next chapter!
Your child will benefit the most by reading a little bit every day. Doing this makes sure they don’t fall behind during the long summer break.
We have written a detailed synopsis of the book here, so if your child struggles with the original they can still learn of the story and get some reading practice. We have broken the synopsis into chapters just like to book so they can still read 2 or 3 chapters a day.
We must ask that you do not share this document online for copyright reasons.
We hope you enjoy reading The 1,000 Year Old Boy!
Part 1
This is Alfie talking. This is my story. My name is Alve Einarsson. I am more than 1,000 years old. I am tired of living forever. I want to grow up. I want to be like you.Are we friends? Call me Alfie.
Chapter 1 - South Shields, AD 1014.
The Vikings have invaded. They have burned down our village in South Shields. Me and mam have escaped. We saved our cat, Biffa. Everyone else has been murdered.We found a cave to stay in. We were safe.
I’ll tell you a bit about my mam and dad. A long time ago my dad found some things called Livperler. That means life pearl. They are glass balls filled with an amber liquid. If you rub the liquid into a cut you will never grow any older.
Chapter 2
Dad and mam both used a life pearl and they didn’t grow any older. They told me to wait until I was an adult. Who wants to be a kid for ever!Dad was killed because he was trying to keep the life pearls safe. Now me and mam keep the last 3 safe until I am old enough to use one.One day mam was away from the cave looking for fresh water. I was sick of waiting to be old enough to use the life pearl. When she was out of sight I opened the pot and took them out.
I used a knife to make 2 cuts on my arm. I broke one of the life pearls and rubbed the liquid into the cuts. Suddenly Biffa jumped over me! She cut her paw on my knife! It surprised me so much that I dropped the other life pearl and stood on it. It broke! Mam would be very angry.The liquid was being wasted on the floor. I picked up Biffa and rubbed her cut paw in it. Now she would live for ever as well.
Chapter 3
All of that happened ages ago.Nobody ever believes me. I am tired of being so old. I want to be normal again. I need help to break the curse.If Aidan and Roxy don’t believe me I am stuffed.
Chapter 4 - Now
This is Aidan talking. Wehad to move house. My dad lost our money. Our new house is a lot smaller. My Xbox broke in the move. We can’t afford a new one.
We don’t have a garden any more. Inigo Delombra, a boy I don’t like, has moved into my old house. My mam and dad argue a lot about money.My sister is 7. She is worried that mam and dad are going to get a divorce.We moved into our new house in the summer holidays. All of my friends had gone away on holiday.
My Aunty Alice and Uncle Jasper came to stay for a visit. They had to sleep in my room. I had to sleep in my sister’s room. My sister was at Brownie camp. I like Aunty Alice, but Uncle Jasper scares me. He wears tinted glasses and won’t say where he is from.
Chapter 6
Our house is right beside a wood. On one side is an alley full of rubbish. Two ladies with 5 cats live on the other side of the alley. They are called Sue and Prue.On the other side of our house is another house. They have a garden instead of a yard.
I went into our yard to get away from the grown-ups. Someone shouted “Hello Aidan!”. I couldn’t see who. Suddenly a girl appeared. She had come through a secret part of the fence! Her name was Roxy Minto. She lived next door.
Roxy took me to a hidden garage. It had a pink neon sign and furniture. It even had a fridge!Roxy was my age but she was tiny. She looked about 6 and acted about 16.
Chapter 7
Roxy said she had something to show me. She led me down into the woods. We came to a hidden house. We crouched in the long grass. We saw a woman and a cat. Roxy said the woman was a witch. I thought that was childish and stood up to leave.
Chapter 8
As I stood up Roxy tried to pull me back down. We struggled. Roxy lost her balance and fell. She rolled down the hill and landed behind the house. She must have banged her head. She lay very still. The woman from the house ran out. The woman and a boy carried Roxy into their house. Blood was running from Roxy’s head. I was very scared.
Chapter 9
This is Alfie talking. What I know about life pearls:
- They are full of liquid. You don’t get any older if the liquid gets in your blood.
- If you want to get older again you have to mix another life pearl into your blood.
That is all I know. It isn’t much.I don’t remember much about my dad. He was tall and blond. He was a trader. He lived on an island called Gotland.Mam tells stories about him. He spared the life of a bandit once. The bandit gave him 4 life pearls. My dad used one on himself. When he met my mam she used one.
People who use life pearls are called Neverdeads. My dad was rich. People where he lived were jealous. They started to notice he didn’t get any older. Mam and dad were worried about what people would do to them. They decided to run away to this country. I was just tiny.My dad thought he was being followed by someone who wanted the life pearls. My mam pretended she didn’t know him on the ship. That way, if he was being followed she would still be safe.
On the journey my dad fell overboard. He might have been pushed. I kept crying and a scary man with black hair said he’d throw me over the side if I didn’t stop.Me and my mam would have to live without dad forever.
Chapter 10
We had been in this cottage for 30 years. We move out when people get suspicious. After a long time, we move back. It is our home.My mam knew the girl spied on us. She seemed harmless. We didn’t want to move again.
Chapter 11
This is Aidan talking. After Roxy was taken into the cottage I ran. I wanted to run home but I got lost. It took me an hour to get home. Roxy was already there!She took me into her garage. I asked what happened and she took out a laptop.
Chapter 12
At first I didn’t understand. The laptop had a video of grass. Then I realised. It was a video of us running through the grass. Roxy had filmed everything!She had a tiny hidden camera on her jacket.We watched the video.
The woman bent over Roxy. Roxy was out cold. The woman looked about 30. She took off her sunglasses. Her eyes were red and watery. She looked very tired. Her teeth were worn down. There were lots of gaps. She called to someone. It sounded as if she was speaking another language.
The boy came out of the cottage. He was blond and thin. He was very pale, and his teeth were bad as well.The woman and the boy had carried Roxy into the cottage. They cleaned the cut on Roxy’s head.When Roxy woke up the woman was kind. Roxy sat up and looked around the room. It was very old fashioned. There were piles of books and papers. A bookcase had hundreds of old books. Roxy told me it smelled dusty and old in there.
Once the woman was happy that Roxy was ok, she asked how Roxy came to be there. Roxy said she got lost. The woman said if Roxy got lost again, she would “call the peelers”. We don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t sound good.The boy seemed to want Roxy to stay but the woman sent her home, not to come back. When Roxy left the boy quietly told her he hoped he’d see her again.Roxy ran all the way home.
Chapter 14
Roxy tried to convince me that the woman was a witch. She said she could prove it. Before she had time to say anything else her mam rang Roxy on her mobile. I thought it was odd that her mam was ringing her from the house. Roxy said she had to go, but made me promise to come back at midnight. She said she had evidence that would prove that the woman was a witch.
Chapter 15
This is Alfie talking. I watched Roxy run off. I was happy to think I might have found a friend. I had seen her name on a tag inside her jacket.It was getting cold. I needed to get some old logs from the store for the fire but I was too busy thinking about Roxy. When I went in I just picked up some of the new logs instead.
Chapter 16
This is Aidan talking. After midnight the sound of sirens was everywhere. I looked out of the bedroom window. The woods were glowing fiercely enough to light up the sky. I knew at once what was on fire.
Uncle Jasper came into the room and commented on the fire. I told him that there was a house in the woods. He said he hoped that the people there were alright.
Just then a firefighter knocked on the door. I asked him where the fire was. He told me it was the cottage in the woods! I asked if everyone was alright but he wouldn’t look at me when he said that he thought so. I knew he was lying.
Dad came to my room and told me to pack a bag. The firefighters had told him we might have to evacuate. The fire was getting close!I pulled on jeans and went outside. Everyone was out except Roxy’s mam. Just then 2 firefighters carried an angry woman in a wheelchair out of Roxy’s house. The woman was very angry about being carried outside.
A woman from the TV tried to ask her some questions. Roxy’s mam swore at the TV woman! Roxy turned up and said “Have you met my mam?”. When I said hello to her she told me to go away.
Chapter 17
We didn’t have to evacuate in the end. Everyone went home and the emergency services all left. One firefighter was left drinking tea in our kitchen. Dad asked him if anyone was hurt. They didn’t know I was there. The firefighter said that someone had died but they didn’t know if it was a man or a woman yet. I felt so sad. Was the boy dead? Was his mam? I sobbed. My dad sent me to bed.
Chapter 18
I didn’t get up until 10 the next day. I watched the news – we were on it. The reporter said the fire was well under way by the time the fire service got there. The Chief Fire Officer said that one person had died. They didn’t know the identity of the dead person yet. The reporter said that the area had been cordoned off.Suddenly Roxy banged on the window! She told me to meet her in the garage in 10 minutes. She said it was important!
Chapter 19
When I got to the garage the door was open. Roxy got there just after me and asked how I had got in. When I told her, she crept forward to see why the door had been open. Suddenly she screamed! I stepped forward. There was someone behind the desk. I tipped it forward. The boy from the cottage was curled up there. He was babbling “Memam memam memam”. Roxy understood that he was saying “My mam”.
Chapter 20
This is Alfie talking. The last friend I ever had was Jack McGonagal in 1936. At that time we had been living in the cottage for 80 years. We liked it there. It was peaceful. We read books and listened to the radio. My mam would cycle into Whitley Bay once or twice a week for shopping. Sometimes I went instead.
I got to know Jack. We were friends. Then he betrayed me.
Chapter 21
Jack got older. I didn’t. At first he didn’t seem to notice. Then one day his mam said something about me. She said she’s seen more growth on Mouldy cheese! Jack laughed. Later I heard him say the same thing to his girlfriend. She stuck up for me, but I knew things had changed. I cycled home, despondent.
Chapter 22
One day I called on Jack at the shop. He was 16 by now. His mam said he wasn’t in. Then she said he had to work in the shop. I knew she was lying. When I heard a girl giggle in the back room I knew Jack was there with his girlfriend. Soon after I left I saw Jack leave the shop. I felt very angry so I shouted to Jack. He turned and saw me.
He was embarrassed to be caught in a lie. I told him I had heard what he said to Jean about me not growing. He sat down on the wall with me to talk to me but I interrupted.
“I embarrass you – is that it?”
He said it wasn’t that. He said people change, and then he walked off.
Chapter 23
I didn’t tell mam what happened. We listened to the radio that night and heard that we were now at war with Germany. We talked about the last war and how we thought that would be the last one. That night I cried and mam comforted me.
Chapter 24
The war started and for a couple of years nobody bothered us. We had to get ration books, but we were lucky. Because we had chickens we had lots of eggs and even a chicken to eat every now and again. Bombs dropped on South Shields and people we knew died. Jack’s dad was one of those killed when a bomb hit a factory.
One day I was trying to catch a chicken for tea when Jack showed up. He was wearing a uniform. Not an army uniform because he was still too young, but he looked official. Jack started asking questions. He didn’t believe our answers about my age and where we were from. I was starting to get worried when the chicken came really close. I grabbed it and made Jack hold it still while I broke its neck. Jack went pale. Before he asked any more questions mam gave him the chicken. She told him not to worry about the mix ups with paperwork. He took the chicken as a bribe to stop asking questions.
For the next 6 months he kept turning up. He always just came in, and one day when we came home he was in the house looking at our bookcase. Later we noticed that one of our books was missing. It was a book signed by Charles Dickens, and was worth a lot of money. We couldn’t prove it was Jack who took it. Not long after that he stopped coming round. We heard that he had been called up and sent to Scotland to train.
We did not see Jack for many years.But then I met his son.
Chapter 25
It was 1962 and me and mam had gone to the beach for the day. It was lovely and sunny and a group of boys was playing football. They asked me to join because they needed a goalie. One of the players was really big, strong and fast. He was called John. John kept knocking the younger players down and didn’t take any notice of the referee.
When he came to score another goal I was determined to stop him. I threw myself onto the ball, but he tripped over me. I got the ball but he was furious. He said his wrist was broken and he spat in my face. The referee ran up to us and shouted for the boy’s dad. Then I saw the dad. It was Jack and he looked shocked. He had recognised me!
The boy was saying he was going to get me, but I just wanted to get my mam and go home before Jack came over.When we got to the bend in our lane John was already there.