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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secretsby J. K. Rowling
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secretsby J. K. Rowling
Order This Book |
By now, hopefully the reader has read the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, in which Harry, a young awkward boy, goes off to wizardry school and has many adventures.
This book continues the Harry Potter adventures in his second year of wizardry school. It starting with Harry's daring escape from spending the last days of summer with his relatives, the Dursleys, via his friend Ron Weasley, who "borrows" his dad's flying car. Even in story books, this is NOT OK and leads he and his friends into some serious consequences. Nevertheless, they do make it back to school and get in and out of more trouble as they muddle through lectures with pompous professors, go to a "deathday" party for Halloween and figure out the current mystery of who is putting some of the students into a near-coma like state.
The Harry Potter books are fun for both kids and adults. The characters are bright and imaginative; the adventures are troublesome, but manageable after some hard thinking and working together to find a solution, and the story resolves most of the mysteries by the end of the book. I have to confess that after reading the first Harry Potter book, I rushed out the buy the this second one and the newly released third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
If you like to read a long book chapter-by-chapter a night to your kids, this one is perfect. Note that the age rating is for an audience of children ages 8 to 13, but use your own best judgement if you think it may be interesting and appropriate for your children if they are outside the publisher-designated age category.
It's hard to fall in love with an earnest, appealing young hero like Harry Potter and then to watch helplessly as he steps into terrible danger! And in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the much anticipated sequel to the award-winning Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, he is in terrible danger indeed. As if it's not bad enough that after a long summer with the horrid Dursleys he is thwarted in his attempts to hop the train to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to begin his second year. But when his only transportation option is a magical flying car, it is just his luck to crash into a valuable (but clearly vexed) Whomping Willow. Still, all this seems like a day in the park compared to what happens that fall within the haunted halls of Hogwarts.
Chilling, malevolent voices whisper from the walls only to Harry, and it seems certain that his classmate Draco Malfoy is out to get him. Soon it's not just Harry who is worried about survival, as dreadful things begin to happen at Hogwarts. The mysteriously gleaming, foot-high words on the wall proclaim, "The Chamber of Secrets Has Been Opened. Enemies of the Heir, Beware." But what exactly does it mean? Harry, Hermione, and Ron do everything that is wizardly possible--including risking their own lives--to solve this 50-year-old, seemingly deadly mystery. This deliciously suspenseful novel is every bit as gripping, imaginative, and creepy as the first; familiar student concerns--fierce rivalry, blush-inducing crushes, pedantic professors--seamlessly intertwine with the bizarre, horrific, fantastical, or just plain funny. Once again, Rowling writes with a combination of wit, whimsy, and a touch of the macabre that will leave readers young and old desperate for the next installment. (Ages 9 and older) --Amazon.com
The Dursleys were so mean and hidieous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.
And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockheart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who hants the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny.
But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone - or something - starts turning Hogwarts students into stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects... Harry Potter himself!
J.K. Rowling was a struggling single mother when she wrote the beginnings of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on scraps of paper at a local cafe. But her efforts soon paid off, as she received an unprecedented award from the Scottish Arts Council enabling her to finish the book. Since then, the debut novel has become an international phenomenon, garnering rave reviews and major awards, including the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year, and the Smarties Prize.
Ms. Rowling lives in Edinburgh with her daughter.