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STAY STRONG: SIMPLE LIFE LESSONS FOR TEENS (Scholastic, $15.95) offers life lessons culled from the experiences of public relations whiz Terrie Williams, who heads her own company. Williams uses her own career success story to inspire teens to work hard and follow their dreams rather than just fitting in and going along with the crowd.

SUGE KNIGHT: THE RISE AND FALL OF DEATH ROW RECORDS (Colossus Books, $21.95) is an intriguing look at the life and times of Marion "Suge" Knight, the controversial rap mogul whose "gangsta" persona and stable of hard-core artists changed the face of American music, by Jake Brown.

9.11.01: AFRICAN-AMERICAN LEADERS RESPOND TO AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY (Judson Press, $16) is filled with messages by a cross section of Black spiritual leaders, including Calvin O. Butts III, T. D. Jakes and Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who offer essays and inspirational prayers to aid in the healing and struggle for meaning that is still going on in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, edited by Martha Simmons and Frank A. Thomas.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN WRITERS: PORTRAITS AND VISIONS (University Press of Mississippi, $40) is photographer and literature professor Lynda Koolish's portfolio of images and thumbnail biographies of 59 of the most important Black writers of the 20th century. The volume includes celebrated literary figures such as Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Derek Wolcott and John Edgar Wideman.

JOY (Warner Books, $23)is a Christian-themed novel about a successful businesswoman whose world is shattered and her faith tested when she becomes pregnant following an attack by a stalker, by Victoria Christopher Murray.

ALSO NOTED

* BLACK BEAUTY: A HISTORY AND A CELEBRATION (Thunder's Mouth Press, $27.50) discusses the position of Blacks within the beauty hierarchy of the West and includes more than 150 photographs to illustrate its points, by Ben Arogundade.

GROWN-A$$ MAN (Ballantine, $22) is a print version of comedian Cedric the Entertainer's stand-up riffs, offering his views on life, love and popular culture.

THE ADRIENNE KENNEDY READER (University of Minnesota Press, $18.95) is a collection of works by the Obie Award-winning playwright whose harrowing dramas explore the violence that racism visits upon individuals and society.

COLORED SUGAR WATER (Dutton, $23.95) is a novel about two women and their search for spiritual and emotional happiness, by Venise Berry.

HE SLEEPS (Henry Holt, $23) is the fictional account of an anthropologist who travels to Senegal in search of identity, but finds only a growing sense of isolation and alienation as well as physical danger, by Reginald McKnight.

MILLENNIUM DIVA: A REAL WOMAN'S GUIDE TO BALANCE (JuDe Publishing, $7.50) is a personal guide to inner peace and happiness, by Deanna Michaux.

ALL THINGS CENSORED (Seven Stories Press, $14.95) contains 92 essays by former journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, currently serving a life sentence in Pennsylvania (a federal judge recently voided his death sentence) for the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer, a crime for which he has maintained his innocence, edited by Noelle Hanrahan with a foreword by Alice Walker.

MAKING CALLALOO: 25 YEARS OF BLACK LITERATURE (St. Martin's Press, $17.95) is a collection of poetry and fiction assembled for the 25th anniversary of the premier journal devoted to African Diaspora literature. Edited by Callaloo founder Charles Henry Rowell, the anthology includes the work of such literary notables as Octavia Butler, Lucille Clifton, Rita Dove and Alice Walker.

CHEWED WATER (University Press of New England, $26) is the memoir of playwright and Brown University professor Aishah Rahman, who writes of her childhood in Harlem in the 1940s and '50s, and of the psychological and physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her adoptive mother.

LEARNING WHILE BLACK: CREATING EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHILDREN (The Johns Hopkins University Press, $15.95) is a critique of the American educational system and the myriad ways in which its "one-size-fits-all" model has failed children, African-American children in particular, by not meeting the needs of diverse learners, by Janice E. Hale.

FOR YOUNGER READERS

MARTIN'S BIG WORDS: THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. (Hyperion books, $15.99) is the story of Dr. King's life told through a combination of the civil rights leader's own words and the narrative of the author, Doreen Rappaport; illustrated by Bryan Collier.

BRONX MASQUERADE (Penguin Putnam, $16.99) is a blend of poetic prose and urban realism and 18 teenagers who use poetry and rap to express feelings about themselves and their surroundings, by Nikki Grimes.

IMANI IN YOUNG LOVE & DECEPTION (Enlighten Publications, $14) is a novel for teenagers that addresses such issues as teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in an inspiring and enlightening story, by Jackie Hardrick.

LOVE TO LANGSTON (Lee & Low Books, $16.95) in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of poet Langston Hughes, this volume, a biography written in verse, introduces younger readers to the life and work of one of the most esteemed literary figures of the 20th century, written by Tony Medina with illustrations by R. Gregory Christie.

LOOKING FOR BIRD IN THE BIG CITY (Silver Whistle, $16) tells the story of trumpet great Miles Davis' quest to find legendary bebop saxophonist Charlie (Bird) Parker in New York city. This kid-friendly look at "cool jazz" is written in bebop-like verse by Robert Burleigh, with illustrations by Marek Los.

* A GHOST STORY (Harper Collins, $15.95) combines photography, illustrations and collage to create a magical picture book about a green-eyed monster who is making trouble in the home of one family, by Nina Crews.