Keeping in touch with the joys of childhood can be difficult. With all the stresses of classes and jobs, it's easy for students to lose touch with their imaginative past.

This weekend, the Center for the Performing Arts (CPA) is featuring a show that will allow students to reconnect with their inner child. At 2 p.m. Sunday, actors from Theatreworks USA will take the Eisenhower Auditorium stage to perform a live theater adaptation of Barbara Park's popular children's book series Junie B. Jones.

The series' protagonist, Junie B. Jones, is a first grade girl who "always has a good heart, is headed in the right direction but needs a little help," Marketing and Communications Director for the Center for the Performing Arts Laura Sullivan said.

The play is a compilation of a few of the books that follow Junie through some escapades, like her first day of first grade, her experience with getting glasses, helping out in the lunch room and a kickball tournament that becomes a concert.

The Junie B. Jones series dates back to the mid-'90s, with 26 titles in circulation.

Leah Joseph, the actress portraying Junie, described her as a "rather precocious 6-year-old. She's perfectly imperfect."

This is Joseph's first tour with this show, but she already likes performing in a children's show.

"I love the family audience because it becomes a generational event. The show is made for children but there is humor made for the adults that will catch them off guard and make them laugh," Joseph said.

The jokes help present the show's message in a "non-preachy manner," she added.

Before the show, there will be a special program called Kidz Connections.

Sullivan said kids will get to make their own top-secret beeswax journal just like the one Junie has, as well as receiving a replica of Junie's first glasses.

Barnes & Noble employees will also be selling Junie B. Jones books in the lobby.

"It just makes a really nice family afternoon. It's one of my favorite children's shows," Sullivan said.

In addition to family audience members, Sullivan said she expects to see Penn State students, especially elementary education majors who may be interested in seeing how children react.

Education major Travis Miecnikowski (freshman-elementary education) agreed the show would be a worthwhile experience.

"It's important to know what kids are watching in order to relate to them better," Miecnikowski said. "Since it's an educational, appropriate show, it's important to indulge children of today in the arts."

Joseph said the show has universal appeal, no matter a student's age or major.

"It has a powerful message for all ages that is sort of 'never give up' -- that you can be imperfect and it's part of what makes you charming," she said.