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The Teacher
From Joseph Fasano, bestselling author of The Magic Words, comes a timeless story of a father, a son, and the power of language to awaken the world.
Part fable and part meditation, The Teacher follows Aldo, a craftsman, and his eleven-year-old son, Solé, as they journey across deserts, mountains, and wondrous cities toward the besieged city of Asha. Along the way, Aldo shares his Six Great Lessons: Love, Grief, Power, Mistakes, Hope, and Courage. These lessons become a guide for Solé as he learns what it means to live with compassion in a world shaped by fear.
What begins as a journey to deliver a gift becomes something far more profound. Solé comes to understand that language, not violence, holds the greatest power of all.
Written in Fasano’s spare and luminous prose, The Teacher is a book to keep close, to give as a gift, and to return to again and again. It is a work for this moment and for all time, reminding us that even in the face of darkness, we still have the power to speak.
Part fable and part meditation, The Teacher follows Aldo, a craftsman, and his eleven-year-old son, Solé, as they journey across deserts, mountains, and wondrous cities toward the besieged city of Asha. Along the way, Aldo shares his Six Great Lessons: Love, Grief, Power, Mistakes, Hope, and Courage. These lessons become a guide for Solé as he learns what it means to live with compassion in a world shaped by fear.
What begins as a journey to deliver a gift becomes something far more profound. Solé comes to understand that language, not violence, holds the greatest power of all.
Written in Fasano’s spare and luminous prose, The Teacher is a book to keep close, to give as a gift, and to return to again and again. It is a work for this moment and for all time, reminding us that even in the face of darkness, we still have the power to speak.
180 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2025
3 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Fasano
12 books263 followersJoseph Fasano is the author of the novels The Swallows of Lunetto (Maudlin House, 2022) and The Dark Heart of Every Wild Thing (Platypus Press, 2020), which was named one of the "20 Best Small Press Books of 2020." His books of poetry include The Last Song of the World (BOA Editions, 2024), The Crossing (2018), Vincent (2015), Inheritance (2014), and Fugue for Other Hands (2013). His honors include the Cider Press Review Book Award, the Rattle Poetry Prize, and a nomination for the Poets' Prize, "awarded annually for the best book of verse published by a living American poet two years prior to the award year."
Fasano is an educator focusing on innovative learning strategies. He is the author of The Magic Words (TarcherPerigee, 2024), a collection of poetry prompts and educational tools that help unlock the creativity in people of all ages.
Fasano's writing has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, The Yale Review, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, Boston Review, Measure, Tin House, The Adroit Journal, Verse Daily, PEN Poetry Series, American Literary Review, American Poetry Journal, and the Academy of American Poets' poem-a-day program, among other publications. He is a Lecturer at Manhattanville University, and he hosts the Daily Poetry Thread on Twitter/X at @Joseph_Fasano_.
Fasano is an educator focusing on innovative learning strategies. He is the author of The Magic Words (TarcherPerigee, 2024), a collection of poetry prompts and educational tools that help unlock the creativity in people of all ages.
Fasano's writing has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, The Yale Review, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, Boston Review, Measure, Tin House, The Adroit Journal, Verse Daily, PEN Poetry Series, American Literary Review, American Poetry Journal, and the Academy of American Poets' poem-a-day program, among other publications. He is a Lecturer at Manhattanville University, and he hosts the Daily Poetry Thread on Twitter/X at @Joseph_Fasano_.
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