Robert Pacilio was San Diego County's Teacher of the Year in 1998 and has presented at California's Association of Teachers of English (CATE) and the Association of Christian Schools International (ASCI), and the California Teachers Association (CTA). He has been recognized as San Diego Magazine's "Top Ten Teachers to Watch," and Disney's Top 100 Teachers in America. In his 32 year teaching career, he has traveled the West Coast to speak to about his novels and to demonstrate the teaching methods inherent within them. His essays and poetry have won numerous awards and been published in Listen magazine and Creative Communication's Top Ten Teacher Poets.  Pacilio's debut YA novel Meetings at the Metaphor Café (2009) was nominated for the California Young Reader Medal. His second novel, Midnight Comes to the Metaphor Café (2012) is a sequel that follows the same four teenage protagonists who now are seniors in high school, dealing with the drama of the transition to life after high school.