Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Arthur A. Levine, 1999. Tr. $ 24.99,  ISBN 978-0439064866

What’s it about?

In the sequel to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, students of Muggle-born parents have been attacked—and petrified-- by a mysterious and powerful sorcerer who reopened the Chamber of Secrets, which holds a deadly beast. Harry finds himself (and Hagrid) under suspicion, and works with Ron and Hermione to figure out who (or what) is behind these attacks.

 Find out more:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets opens with Harry spending his summer with the horrible Dursleys. Things begin to look up when Harry is brought to the Weasley’s home to spend the remainder of the summer.  When Harry and Ron are unable to board the train to Hogwarts, they decide to steal the Weasley’s enchanted car and fly to school. They crash into a valuable tree, the Whomping Willow, and are nearly expelled. More trouble is brewing, however. Threatening messages begin to appear, warning students that Chamber of Secrets has been opened and the heir of Slytherin will kill Muggle-born students. These are hardly empty threats—Muggle-born pupils are attacked, and petrified. Harry finds himself under suspicion, and when he, Ron and Hermione investigate the Chamber of Secrets, (breaking countless school rules, of course) they again face a deadly struggle.

The books in the Harry Potter series become more sophisticated as the characters (and Harry Potter fans) get older.  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets casts Harry in a different light by creating doubt among his friends in regard to his intentions. The readers ask themselves as well: is Harry the heir of Slytherin? His ability to speak Parseltongue is disturbing, recalls the sorting hat’s comment that Harry would do well in Slytherin. The attacks on the Muggle-born, as well as the attitudes of Slytherins (particularly the Malfoys), is the wizard-world equivalent to racism. Wizards who are Muggle-born are considered inferior by some to those born into wizarding families. Characters with a strong moral fiber, of course, don’t buy into this and find the use of the epithet “Mudblood” despicable. This book is darker in tone than Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but is not without humor, particularly in the situations involving the character of Gilderoy Lockhart, who is the new instructor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lockhart is a self-aggrandizing author of several books that detail his heroics without a smidge of humility. However, it quickly becomes clear that Lockhart has very little skill or knowledge of magic, and probably fabricated the majority of his heroics. His “healing” of Harry’s broken arm is hilarious as well as disturbing. Instead of mending the bones, Lockhart removes them, and comments “The point is, the bones are no longer broken.”  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets contains a satisfying mix of mystery, humor, and fantasy that ends with an unexpected twist. The conclusion is a bit too pat, and the book’s arc is very similar to the first book. Still, this is a diverting read with plenty to enjoy.  

Genre: Fantasy

Reading level: 7^th grade

Interest level:  Grades 4-9

Subjects: Wizards, Magic, Boarding School, Good vs. Evil

Awards:

ALA Notable Book for Children

Children’s Book of the Year British Book Award

Booklist Top Ten Fantasy Novels for Youth

Read-alikes:

For children: Collins’ Gregor the Overlander series

Dahl’s BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, & Matilda

Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series

For adults:

Grossman’s The Magicians

Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series

Many Harry Potter fans also enjoy the TV shows Dr. Who and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Series information:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Companion books:

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Quidditch Throughout the Ages

Tales of Beedle the Bard

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Arthur A. Levine, 1997. Tr. $20.25, ISBN 978-0780797086

(Published in the U.K. as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)

What’s it about? (In case you’ve been stranded on a desert island or studying orangutans for the past 14 years)

Harry Potter is the boy who lived, having survived Voldemort’s attack, which orphaned him, and also made him a legend in the wizarding world. Reluctantly raised by his muggle (non-magic folk) relatives, Harry is surprised to meet a giant named Hagrid, who tells him that he is wizard and will study his craft at Hogworts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

Find out more:

Harry Potter was orphaned as a baby and brought up by his loathsome aunt and uncle, the Durselys, who treat him as a sub-human. When he turns eleven, however, everything changes for Harry. A larger-than-life visitor, Hagrid, scares the daylights out of the Dursleys and tells Harry some exciting (and disturbing) news. Harry is a wizard, and mysteriously survived the attack that killed his parents and left him with a lightening-shaped scar on his forehead. The attack was at the hands (make that wand) of an evil, powerful wizard, He That Shall Not Be Named, aka Voldemort. Because he survived, Harry is a legend, and there are hints throughout this first book in the seven book saga that Harry is destined for great things. In the first book, he makes his mark in Quidditch (a game that seems like a cross between basketball and baseball, if either sport was played on broomsticks) and risks his life with his friends Ron and Hermione to prevent the powerful sorcerer’s stone from falling into the wrong hands.

Harry Potter deals with some heavy subjects, namely his mistreatment at the hands of the Dursleys (which was essentially child abuse), his parents’ deaths, and the sinister rumblings of Voldemort. This is not an overly serious book, though, because it is infused with humor and breathtaking world-building. Rowling does a fantastic job of creating the world of witches and wizards, which co-exists with the Muggle (non-wizard) world. Her descriptions of the Hogwarts are rich and detailed, and transport the reader into this magical world.  The characters, while not particularly layered, are enjoyable and relatable. The good characters have flaws enough to make them quirky, even the heroes, while the bad characters (with a key exception) are bad through and through.  

Critics of the Harry Potter books point to the “flat” characters and pedestrian writing as the reasons they dislike the books. I agree the writing of the first book wasn’t the best, and could have done with more editing. However, the plot and setting shine through anyhow. With the exception of most of the “bad guys,” I disagree that the characters are flat. Maybe a tad stereotypical, but each has very human vulnerabilities. Hermione seems insufferable at first, and never stops being overly concerned with her grades, but she also turns out to be someone who cares about what others think, puts her neck out for others, and ends up showing that she’s very brave, and can use her knowledge under pressure. Besides, the genre is fantasy, not realistic fiction. Fantasies are full of archetypes. Some say Rowling “ripped off” ideas from literary classics. But all literature references previous ideas to varying degrees. I don’t think she plagiarized or copied ideas; I think she paid homage to previous authors.

Genre: Fantasy

Reading level: 5^th-6^th grade

Interest level: All muggles, particularly those in grades 4-9

Subjects: Wizards, Magic, Boarding School, Good vs. Evil

Awards:

Winner of the United Kingdom’s National Book Award (1997)

ALA Notable Book

New York Public Library Best Book of the Year (1998)

Read-alikes:

For children: Collins’ Gregor the Overlander series

Dahl’s BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, & Matilda

Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series

For adults:

Grossman’s The Magicians

Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series

Many Harry Potter fans also enjoy the TV shows Dr. Who and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Series information:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Companion books:

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Quidditch Throughout the Ages

Tales of Beedle the Bard

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