Harlem at the Holidays

Christmas is less than a month away, for spiritual good, for consumerist ill. Here’s some good: The author of “The Nutcracker in Harlem,” The Star’s T.E. McMorrow, will be signing copies of the charming picture book, recently out from HarperCollins, at two Books of Wonder stores in Manhattan on Sunday — at 18 West 18th Street from 1 to 3 p.m., and at 217 West 84th Street from 4 to 6. He’ll be joined by the book’s illustrator, James Ransome, a veteran of the genre, and by two other children’s book author-illustrators, Matt Tavares and Susan Jeffers.

Mr. McMorrow was once a stagehand at a ballet company in Harlem. His book is a welcome Jazz Age retelling of the classic and oft-performed holiday story, with an African-American cast of characters led by a brave girl protagonist, Marie.