Kids’ Fantasies Top the Charts

December’s international bestsellers list had a young adult flavor. J.K. Rowling’s worldwide hit The Tales of Beedle the Bard landed on the top of the fiction list in Germany; slightly further down, the final volume in Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart series, Inkdeath, debuted in the fourth spot; Inkdeath was released in the U.S. in September by Scholastic. In Italy, Christopher Paolini’s Brisingr hit the combined bestseller list in the #2 spot, while his earlier book Eragon slipped from the top position to #6 in Germany. The Italian bestseller list also was full of books by America’s hottest author, Stephenie Meyer, whose Twilight series titles occupied the third, sixth and 12th (Eclipse) spots.

While Beedle the Bard, Twilight, Brisingr and Breaking Dawn were the fifth, sixth, ninth and 10th top sellers in Spain in December, a slightly older woman took the top spot: The Girl Who Played with Fire, the sequel to Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, debuted at #1. Tattoo is a bestseller for Knopf in the U.S., and the second book is scheduled for July release. Landing at #3 in Spain is the latest from Swedish thriller writer Henning Mankell; Mankell has enjoyed some success in the U.S. with his Kurt Wallendar novels and a collection of five stories, The Pyramid, released last fall by New Press.