Al Gomez

2 booksChild BooksLiterary FictionChapter Books

Al Gomez is a passionate naturalist, educator, and author who grew up exploring the sun-drenched trails and backwoods of rural central Texas. His childhood fascination with native wildlife inspired a lifelong career in environmental education and storytelling. Al loves sharing the wonders of nature with young readers, transforming complex ecological concepts into accessible, beautifully illustrated adventures. When he is not writing or visiting schools, you can find him hiking across scenic desert parks, photographing native flora, or sketching local wildlife in his field journal. There's a monster in the woods is his love letter to the rich, vibrant landscapes that shaped his imagination.

Books

Peach Face

A fifth grader, a new school, and the friend he must leave behind

Child Books
Literary Fiction

Frank has just moved from Albuquerque to El Paso, and tomorrow is his first day at a new school. He wants friends. He wants to belong. He wants, most of all, not to be the kid people laugh at. His mother has already laid down the rule: no Peach Face. Not at school. Not even mentioned. The imaginary friend who used to sit on his bed has to stay home. That night the house is too quiet. The clock ticks. Frank counts sheep until the numbers blur. Then something shoves the mattress from underneath, hard enough to lift him. Peach Face is not gone. Peach Face is a literary chapter book about starting over, about the stories we tell ourselves to feel brave, and about the moment a child has to decide which voice he will listen to. It is tender, a little spooky, and fiercely honest about how it feels to walk into a new classroom carrying an old secret.

Open Book

There's a monster in the woods

In the sweltering Texas summer of 1975, childhood innocence ends beyond the tracks

Literary Fiction
Adventure

Rockdale, Texas, June 1975. The air is thick with suffocating heat, the drone of cicadas, and whispers of something savage lurking across the Missouri Pacific railroad tracks. Twelve-year-old Junior already has his hands full navigating his estranged father's tense visit while fiercely protecting his adventurous little brother, Jimmy. But when mutilated livestock and unnerving claw marks appear along the forbidden woodline, summer boredom turns into a daring quest. Joined by four neighborhood boys fueled by restless bravado, Junior and Jimmy cross the sun-baked rails into the impenetrable pine scrub. What begins as a boyish adventure swiftly unravels into sheer terror. Deep inside the sweltering thicket, they uncover evidence of an apex predator far deadlier than any ghost story. As twilight gathers and long shadows swallow the woods, the boys find themselves relentlessly hunted toward a collapsed trestle over a jagged ravine. To survive the night, they must face down the beast that stalks them and the fragile boundaries of youth itself. Heartfelt, chilling, and vividly nostalgic, There's a monster in the woods is an unforgettable coming-of-age adventure about brotherhood, courage, and the monsters that lurk in the shadows of memory.

Open Book