Written by an experienced speech therapist, 'Small Talk' books show parents how they can help boost language development in their babies aged 6 to 18 months, in practical ways. The books are set in familiar places and around familiar events, such as a trip to the park and bedtime. The text is lyrical, rich in sound and perfect for reading aloud.

Off-street parking requirements are devastating American cities. So says the author in this no-holds-barred treatise on the way parking should be. Free parking, the author argues, has contributed to auto dependence, rapid urban sprawl, extravagant energy use, and a host of other problems. Planners mandate free parking to alleviate congestion, but end up distorting transportation choices, debasing urban design, damaging the economy, and degrading the environment. Ubiquitous free parking helps explain why our cities sprawl on a scale fit more for cars than for people, and why American motor vehicles now consume one-eighth of the world's total oil production. But it doesn't have to be this way. The author proposes new ways for cities to regulate parking, namely, charge fair market prices for curb parking, use the resulting revenue to pay for services in the neighborhoods that generate it, and remove zoning requirements for off-street parking.

The ¿small house¿ in Sandra Park¿s novella about 1950s Kailua is inhabited by a multi-generational Korean-American family. The tenor of the story is one of war fatigue bearing down on a desire to think positively, to walk on the sunny side of the street, to be a good American. Hawai`i¿s soldiers fought against an enemy who physically resembled themselves¿Chinese, Japanese, Koreans. The story is a miniature¿house, island, world. In spite of public messages of optimism, this Korean-American family is sagging under the weight of daily necessity, missing the coattails of the American Dream. Park also adeptly captures Hawai`i in the 1950s, creating a snapshot of a Korean immigrant family full of captivating characters who find themselves suspended, not only between two wars and changing ideals, but between two times¿pre- and post-Statehood. In this lush, evocative novella, dreams, ghosts, and memories are as present in the house as real people. The story is supplemented by archival photographs, a reader¿s guide, reference information about 1950s Hawai`i, and an interview with the author. Both older and younger readers will be able to relate to the story, as will fans of literary fiction¿everyone who has felt the tug and languor of these islands, and everyone who understands that sometimes, we feel the most isolated when we live close to those we love.