Books with author Gwen Westwood

Certainly not just a poetry book.An easily readable yet well-crafted non-fiction 'novel-in-poetry' written through the eyes of a child runaway, at times with humor yet other times shocking.Ben Westwood tells his story of hitch-hiking and bunking trains across the UK from ten years old and tells how he managed to stay undetected whilst on the run in London's east end - and what it was like sleeping rough on the streets of Central London as a young teenager whilst remaining hidden in plain sight.This book also sheds insight into how it feels as a young person living in foster care and children's homes, and how decisions made completely out of his control were to impact both his mental health and his ability to remain safe and secure environments.An insightful and educating read not only for the general reader, but considered a valuable resource by social workers and foster parents across the UK.Since the release of this book, it has received fantastic feedback from social workers at book events, and has also been read at a conference on runaways at European Parliament alongside missing children's charities. One minute you'll be shocked and stunned at the events Ben goes through, and the next you'll be laughing at his antics.A somewhat unique perspective of a young teenager living life in London as a homeless adult.

Welcome to Ben Westwood's collection of 60 true-story poems - ‘Poems from a runaway’. It’s his story of being a teenager in care, and a frequent runaway from the west midlands (UK). Follow him on a journey from ten years old, wandering from town to town before eventually at the age of twelve, finding himself in the east end of London with drug addicts and prostitutes. A year later he was to be sleeping rough in London’s West end, meeting celebrities and all sorts of folk. It’s a story with many tragedies, but also comedic moments.Choices that would have only been made with a youngsters thinking, and angels along the way. Predators, friends, heart-warming times and dangerous moments. Hustles, wind-ups and the way young people entertain themselves along the way. Some moments in life that some may never had knew existed.A collection of sixty poems of various lengths, leading the reader through the reality of this true-story childhood journey.Not only a great read and an eye-opener for general book and poetry lovers, but also a great resource for Foster parents, social workers, mental health support services, homeless services, child advocates and care leavers.

This book was digitized and reprinted from the collections of the University of California Libraries. It was produced from digital images created through the libraries’ mass digitization efforts. The digital images were cleaned and prepared for printing through automated processes. Despite the cleaning process, occasional flaws may still be present that were part of the original work itself, or introduced during digitization. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found online in the HathiTrust Digital Library at www.hathitrust.org.

This book was digitized and reprinted from the collections of the University of California Libraries. It was produced from digital images created through the libraries’ mass digitization efforts. The digital images were cleaned and prepared for printing through automated processes. Despite the cleaning process, occasional flaws may still be present that were part of the original work itself, or introduced during digitization. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found online in the HathiTrust Digital Library at www.hathitrust.org.