AMERICAN FORK (July 7, 2004)—They’re small, but smart. More than 230 of them are currently spread across Salt Lake County, with more coming to Davis and Utah Counties. What are these spies and what are they looking for? They’re children and they’re looking for fun.

On June 19, best-selling author Michele Ashman Bell began the “Spy Club.” The Spy Club is a free activity for children from ages 5 to 12. It is designed to teach children how reading is fun and can take them on new adventures. The club also promotes Bell’s newest children’s book, Latter Day Spies: Spyhunt, published by Covenant Communications. At the activity Bell does magic tricks from her book, plays spy games with the children, and does a "Spy Academy" to certify the children as Official Spies. Every child who comes gets a certificate and a free "Spy Kit" just for participating.

The first official Spy Club took place at a Seagull Book in North Sandy on June 19 with approximately 20 children. The next sets of Spy Clubs were held June 26 at the Seagull Book in both West Jordan and Taylorsville, with more than 60 children participating. Since then calls have been coming into the stores to find out when and where the next activity will be. “We’ve had such wonderful feedback. Parents call in because they heard from their friends and neighbors about the event and they want to know where to go and how to sign up,” said Tasha Reed, store manager at the Seagull Book in Taylorsville.

Each of the Spy Club activities attracts more kids than the last. The most recent event was June 30 at Hunter Public Library in West Valley where more than 150 children turned out for the event. “When I saw the children lined up out the door to come into the activity, a huge lump formed in my throat. I was expecting 40, but more than three times that many were waiting to come in. I was thinking, ‘Man I hope they like this and the magic tricks work!’” said Bell. And they did. Bell’s performance went off without a hitch.

The Spy Club was the biggest turnout for an author event that Hunter Library has ever held. A library employee told Bell when she got there Wednesday morning that the phones had been ringing off the hook the day before from parents interested in the event. Ruby Cheesman, director of Hunter library, said, “We were surprised ourselves to see how big of a turnout we had because our only form of advertising was posters in the library and word of mouth.”

The feedback at the library was positive too. “We’ve had multiple people tell us how great the event was and that we should have more programs like this. Everyone liked it so much it will now be an annual event,” said Cheesman.

And what does Bell think of her rapidly growing popular children’s activity? “I’m blown away! I never expected this. I was just trying to give the kids something fun and encourage summer reading. I had no idea this would take off so quickly!”

With only one week of having a sign-up sheet available, Bell’s next set of Spy Clubs on July 10 at the Seagull Book in Riverdale and the Seagull Book in Layton already has more than 100 children set to participate.

For more information on upcoming Spy Club dates and locations, contact Melissa Stockdale at Covenant Communications at 801-756-1041 ext 167.