The Appropriate Cover

I feel that the fourth cover portrays the novel, The Fifth Child, the best. It shows Ben, isolated and alone. The mood the picture sets is very depressing which corresponds with the mood of the book. The Fifth Child is a horror story, and the fourth cover really depicts that much better than all the other covers. Ben's facial expression on the cover can be interpreted as fear, isolation, confusion, anger, loneliness, and bitterness; all themes that are found in several character's in Doris Lessing's novel. Lessing references several instances where Ben would blatantly stare out of the window."Ben would stand on the sill, gripping the bars and shaking them, and surveying the outside world, letting out his thick raucous cries." (Lessing, 60) It is evident that the fourth cover is best choice, and depicts the novel the best.