Literacy

Invincible. Amazing. Unstoppable. When I was a kid, such larger-than-life language sucked me into the world of comic books. They featured ordinary people for the most part, who through a set of bizarre circumstances acquired powers that made them superheroes. The Avenging Angel. The Diabolical Dr. Doom. And my all-time favorite, the Uncanny X-Men. The combination of great illustrations, over-the-top prose, and riveting story lines kept me spending my 25 cents each week for the next cliff-hanger.

Linda Katz, the founder and executive director of the Children's Literacy Initiative, will retire Friday after more than two decades. The Center City nonprofit, which Katz founded in 1988, said that Kelly Hunter, director of professional development, would serve as interim executive director while a national search is conducted for Katz's permanent successor. The Children's Literacy Initiative works with teachers in prekindergarten through third grade to help low-income students develop strong reading skills.

HELEN Wilhelmina Robinson believed so strongly that early education helps to reduce adult illiteracy, she established an award for accomplished third-graders at the schools her children attended. She named the award after her parents, William T. and Mattie B. Robinson, and it went to the most-improved third-grade reader at her childrens' schools. Helen Robinson, retired administrative assistant at the health-and-benefits management firm Towers Perrin Forster & Crosby, and a strong family matriarch and devoted churchwoman, died April 24 of complications of the respiratory ailments she endured most of her adult life.

NEW YORK - Even a Muppet knows how to get money. "The best way is to earn it, by working at a job!" said Grover, the perpetually 6-year-old monster, during a recent break in filming on the set of "Sesame Street" in New York. "I have a number of jobs myself! I work at Charlie's Restaurant!" he said, referring to one of his recurring skits on the venerable kids' show. Earning money is one of the financial fundamentals focused on in "For Me, for You, for Later," a new project featuring Grover, Elmo, Cookie Monster and their Muppet pals.

The first child to sit down to read with Prudential analyst Vinina Hawkins at her Dresher office was the tallest first grader Hawkins had ever seen. Then came a stubborn student who called reading a bore, and there was the little actress who read aloud as though she were auditioning. "I would say, 'There's no exclamation point there,' " Hawkins said. "And she would say, 'But there should be. I'm so excited.' " At lunchtime Tuesday, Hawkins was coaching her eighth West Oak Lane Charter School student in eight years - 6-year-old Moriah Taylor.

The Montgomery Auditorium at the Central branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia was filled to its 378-person capacity Wednesday night to celebrate the culmination of One Book, One Philadelphia with renown storyteller, filmmaker and author Sherman Alexie. About 100 more bookworms watched and listened to the speech on a screen, seated in fold-up chairs in the library's cavernous lobby. "I'm honored to be a part of it," Alexie said. "The incredible number of events-and the diversity of events-no other city does it like this.

Mayor Nutter on Monday named Judith Renyi as his new $130,000-a-year executive director of the Mayor's Commission on Literacy. The high-level appointment - Renyi until now was dean of the Schools of Graduate and Professional Studies at Rosemont College - is in keeping with Nutter's vow to revamp the commission to boost Philadelphia's "serious literacy crisis," as the mayor puts it. In her new role, Renyi will be the point person for expanding adult-literacy...

Sitting at one of three demonstration tables at the Honickman Learning Center in North Philadelphia, Vernon Jordan III showed off a video documentary he produced as a final project in the Comcast Digital Connectors program. "I graduated from the program in the summer and it's cool to be able to take what I learned there and share it with others," Jordan, a junior at Murrell Dobbins High School, said yesterday as he displayed his skills to older attendees at an event celebrating the program.

Next week, PBS will spend six hours examining one of the major underpinnings of the American experience: religion. With the straightforward title God in America , the coproduction of Frontline and The American Experience airs at 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday on WHYY TV12. Frontline executive producer Mike Sullivan told TV critics at their summer meeting in Los Angeles that people at Boston's WGBH, which produced the monumental show, settled on the idea after recognizing that Americans, the majority of whom say they believe in God, had a "religious illiteracy problem.

The Center for Literacy has received a $400,000 grant from the Mayor's Office of Community Services, the Philadelphia-based nonprofit announced Tuesday. The organization will use the money to add 13 classes for low-income parents and community residents to help them with literacy, improve their English language skills, and earn their General Education Development (GED) certificates. The center expects the money will enable it to help 455 new learners. Founded in 1965, the center focuses on adult literacy.