Young At Heart by Christine Neff, The Newark Post, February 8, 2007.

It's a few minutes before 10:30am on a recent Saturday and the parking lot behind the Newark New Century Club on Delaware Avenue is already full. Preschoolers and toddlers dressed as princesses and superheroes for February's theme bond towards the building, their parents' hand in one hand, a favorite stuffed animal in the other.

Inside, they add their names to the show's club roster and make their way into an auditorium that for next hour will become their world --- a colorful world full of song, dance and kid sized fun.

Pianist John Southard keeps everyone entertained with a few introductory tunes. And then the woman they've come to see appears, wearing bright blue pants, a cherry red top and suspenders decorated with all kinds of buttons.

She draws a cheer from the kids that now line the front of the stage. Others wave from their seats. Even infants look on, wide eyed, from their mothers' laps.

"Welcome to our superhero show," says Lois Young, her voice filled with excitement. "I'm so thrilled you're here today." She then begins with a greeting song that includes each and every child's first name from the sign in sheet. Children raise their hands and wave with glee as they hear their names called.

Young, a Newark native, has been performing children's songs for about 20 years now. A talented musician and performer, she works with her husband, Southard, writing music and producing monthly children's shows in the Newark area. They often get help from their 13-year-old son, Mattie Young, and other members of the close knit family.

But, Newark wasn't always so lucky to have a performer like Young in its midst. After graduating from Newark High School, she moved to New York City. She studied voice and composition at the Manhattan School of Music and acting at the famed Neighborhood School for dramatic arts.

For a time, she lived in Los Angeles. There she did voiceover work for Disney, starred in more than 50 national TV commercials and recorded some of her songs with a national record label.

Eventually, she moved back to Newark with a desire to perform in her hometown. "I really wanted to do something here. That was important to me," she said.

She started doing shows at the New Century Club in 2004. At first it was challenging competing with the many other Saturday morning activities that involve kids. Thinking back on that time, she said, laughing, "I began to hate group sports."

But, the show must go on, and she and her family made sure it did, gaining regular attendees and new faces at each show. "I learned from all my years in the business that perseverance and tenacity are the biggest things. If there's something you love, you just have to keep persevering because you're going to go through times when it's just not the way you envisioned," she said.

Now, her monthly shows attract crowds, with parents coming from Newark, Bear, Wilmington and nearby Pennsylvania. The buzz made its way to the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, which has invited Young to perform there and to lead a music class for young children. The shows will kick off this fall, she said.

So what is it about Lois Young that makes the kids cheer?

Like many children's entertainers, Young uses puppets in her shows. She gets the kids involved, encouraging them to strike superhero poses and sing and dance along to her songs, which seem to strike a chord with the audience.

Writing children's songs, said Young, comes naturally. "When I started writing them, I knew I had found my real calling," she said. "I really am very, very childlike in the way I view the world...I like to get inside a child's mind and see the world from their point of view and give voice to their feelings," she said.

Often, said Young, she turns adult experiences into songs for kids. She wrote one of her favorites, "Sticks and Stones (Always Have a Kind Word)," after her own feelings were hurt by a friend.

Young enjoys performing and being around children, describing them as "so wonderfully open and accessible, and expressive." And, she said, she has a strong connection to them during her shows. "That's one reason it works so well, because I think, in a way, they really feel I'm one of them."