Uncle Click can’t find his hat, and young CJ embarks on a search of his uncle’s favorite neighborhood haunts trying to track it down in an upbeat picture book that was inspired by Art Kane’s famous photograph A Great Day in Harlem . Uncle Click is a jazz man, and he needs his hat to wear for the photographer coming to take his picture. CJ, an aspiring and talented musician himself, goes from barbershop to diner to nightclub, but no one has seen the hat. Still, everyone loves talking about Uncle Click’s music (“when he wails on his trumpet, the saltshakers bounce!”), and they’re intrigued to hear a photographer is on his way. Soon a whole crowd has gathered on the steps of Uncle Click’s brownstone to be part of the picture. Kane’s memorable photo is reproduced as part of an author’s note explaining how it brought together many of Harlem’s finest jazz musicians with a handful of neighborhood children—an extraordinary event orchestrated by word of mouth. Author Debbie A. Taylor has placed a cast of vibrant African American characters in a wonderful original story that is suggestive of the past but does not try to replicate it. Frank Morrison’s buoyant acrylic artwork matches the energy and flow of the story. (Ages 5–8)

Searching his Harlem neighborhood for his uncle's missing hat, an energetic African American boy unintentionally creates an exuberant gathering of the neighborhood's jazz musicians for a magazine photograph; a fictional story inspired by Art Kane's historic photograph of jazz greats, Harlem 1958.

C. J. needs to act fast. A photographer from Highnote magazine is on his way to photograph Uncle Click, a well-known jazz musician, but Uncle Click's signature hat is missing. Now it's up to C. J. to hunt down the hat in time for the photo shoot. Little does C. J. know that his whirlwind search through Harlem sets in motion the making of a magical moment of friendship and music.

Illustrated with exuberance by fine artist Frank Morrison, Sweet Music in Harlem is an action-packed romp inspired by an historic photograph from Harlem's jazz heyday. Readers everywhere will rejoice in the power of music to bring people together in wonderful, fun-filled ways.