Top Ten Tuesday: Books With Characters on The Cover

This week’s topic is top ten books with characters on the cover. Covers that depict characters’ faces is a pet peeve of Pete’s so it was fun to find books that were exceptions to this rule. 

Thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl for another great Top Ten Tuesday!

Indiana’s Five
The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo (Illustrated by Chris Sheeban)
The whispery illustration of Sistine riding the tiger while Rob looks on just perfectly captures both of their characters. 

Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo (Illustrated by Chris Sheeban)
The faded blues and hints of orange on this cover were always so mysterious to me and the perplexed expression on Charlie’s face has stuck with me since I first read the book as a child. 

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (Illustrated by Joan Wong) 
It’s such a simple, yet powerful cover with the character’s bejeweled profile set in a solid orange background. 

Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo (Illustrated by Amy June Bates)
The watercolor-like illustration of Beverly Tapinski’s face stretches across the cover, with her chin tilting slightly upward and her eyes looking up beyond the viewer. It captures the attitude that Beverly maintains even as she goes through a difficult journey within the story. 

Anna K: A Love Story by Jenny Lee (Illustrated by Erin Fitzsimmons) 
I love the title font on this one, as well as the slightly disheveled look of Anna, who is looking up at the sky with blue-tinted sunglasses with hearts at the center of each lens. 

Pete’s Five
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (Illustrated by Ruth Robbins)
The illustration of Ged on the first edition cover is so simple yet captures the young wizard so well. When I read, the world of Earthsea is illustrated by Ruth Robbins in my mind. 

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Illustrated by Myron Grossman and Michael Tedesco)
This iconic cover portrays Ignatius so perfectly that editions of this book without it just look wrong. I particularly appreciate how strangely cartoonish it is, which is so rare in book covers.

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (Illustrated by Michael Whelan)
When this cover was revealed, I remember getting chills. Jasnah Kholin appears powerful, confident, and majestic as she summons her shardblade (read: magic sword). There are other fantasy book covers that depict women wielding swords, but not nearly enough.

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft (Illustrated by Ian Leino)
There’s a classic look to this cover, and I love the anguish in Thomas Senlin’s face as he struggles against the confines of the tower. It may be a bit literal, but it’s a lovely illustration. 

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Photograph by Rodney Smith)
Smith’s simple black-and-white photo doesn’t show anyone’s face, but the attitude of the well-dressed man leaning over a balcony is 100% Alexander Rostov.