The latest bestseller list reveals which books are likely to be found under Kiwi Christmas trees. And there are a couple of surprises in store.

In New Zealand Fiction for Adults, Sky Dancer is still on top. Scornful Moon has shot back up to #2, but the most notable reappearance is that of The Bone People, by Keri Hulme (pictured). It’s selling well nineteen years after its first printing, and has crept back in at #5.

(Hulme’s career makes for an interesting read: check out her entry in the Oxford Companion to NZ Literature here. It concludes with a masterly understatement: “Her twinned novels Bait and On the Shadow Side, on which she has been working for a number of years, are awaited.”)

The NZ Non Fiction for Adults chart sees The Penguin History of New Zealand go back to #1. Dare to Dream: The John Britten Story reappears at #7 and Gone Fishin': The Cookbook II by Graeme Sinclair makes its first appearance, creeping in at #10.

Lots of kids are going to be unwrapping A Kiwi Night Before Christmas by Yvonne Morrison & Deborah Hinde or Cat's Whiskers by Lynley Dodd. Good to see that the top two titles for children and teens are both by local authors.