---
title: '"Be Kind to Books Club: Are You a Member?" (Illinois WPA Art Project, 1936-1940)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/be-kind-to-books-club-illinois-wpa-1938/
description: Blue silhouetted children hold a sign marked 'Be kind to books club' above the question 'Are you a member?'. Tagged by technique, with source and rights.
section: Collection
---

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3. "Be Kind to Books Club: Are You a Member?"

[!["Be Kind to Books Club: Are You a Member?", 1938 US poster: Blue silhouetted children hold a sign marked 'Be kind to books](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/be-kind-to-books-club-illinois-wpa-1938.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/be-kind-to-books-club-illinois-wpa-1938.jpg)

# "Be Kind to Books Club: Are You a Member?" (Illinois WPA Art Project, 1936-1940)

Blue silhouetted children hold a sign marked 'Be kind to books club' above the question 'Are you a member?'. The tell: the children's crowd carries the sign, so the question to the viewer is why they have not joined.

The Illinois WPA Art Project in Chicago made this poster to recruit children to a library club; the Library of Congress dates it only to 1936 to 1940, so 1938 is a midpoint. Blue silhouetted children hold a sign reading "be KIND TO BOOKS Club" above the question "Are you a member?". Bandwagon is the tell: the children already carrying the sign suggest that many have joined, which turns the question to the viewer into why they have not.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/)

## Full record

Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
be KIND
TO BOOKS
Club
Are you a member?
```

[← La Vanguardia, picture page (Barcelona, 13 December 1937): "La Ciudad Universitaria"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/la-vanguardia-ciudad-universitaria-1937/) ["Credere Obbedire Combattere": a school group photograph, Mirandola, 1938 →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/credere-obbedire-combattere-mirandola-1938/)

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