Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Summary and Reviews of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J.K. (Joanne) Rowling

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J.K. (Joanne) Rowling

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets

Book 2

by J.K. (Joanne) Rowling
  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Readers' Rating (176):
  • First Published:
  • Jun 1, 1999, 341 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Aug 2000, 352 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

Fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockheart, and a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom.

The Dursleys were so mean and hideous 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 haunts 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 to 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!

Chapter Eight
The Deathday Party

October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was kept busy by a sudden spate of colds among the staff and students. Her Pepperup potion worked instantly, though it left the drinker smoking at the ears for several hours afterward. Ginny Weasley, who had been looking pale, was bullied into taking some by Percy. The steam pouring from under her vivid hair gave the impression that her whole head was on fire.

Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the castle windows for days on end; the lake rose, the flower beds turned into muddy streams, and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size of garden sheds. Oliver Wood's enthusiasm for regular training sessions, however, was not dampened, which was why Harry was to be found, late one stormy Saturday afternoon a few days before Halloween, returning to Gryffindor Tower, drenched to the skin and splattered with mud.

Even aside from the rain...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Booklist
Fans who have been thirsting for this sequel will definitely not feel any disappointment. In fact, once they have read it, they will be lusting for the next.

Kirkus Reviews
Readers will be irresistibly drawn into Harry's world by GrandPr's comic illustrations and Rowling's expert combination of broad boarding school farce and high fantasy.

Reader Reviews

BooksAreVital

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
This book can make you fall in great love with how magical it is. It whisks you up high above the ground and you will wish you could never come down. It produces magic in you that could not be found elsewhere. It makes you look outside the window and...   Read More
AlexiaJS

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling, review
The sequel to The Sorcerer's Stone is just as magical and thrilling as the first, and from there it keeps getting better and better. The new characters, exciting plot twists and valuable lessons just make you want to turn the page again and again, ...   Read More
Vidit

What a great book
The book Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets was a good rescue story like when Harry went to save Ginny and the teacher who had lost his memories.
Kirsty Wieprecht, katie elford and rachel greatrex

woohoo
we are the BIGGEST fans of this book!in the intire world including poland...i just wich i could marry the book!kristy for ron for eva! i cant believe i may have to live a life without the thought of a new book coming out!she cant do this to me!i may ...   Read More

Write your own review!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, try these:

  • Fly Trap jacket

    Fly Trap

    by Frances Hardinge

    Published 2012

    About this book

    More by this author

    In the eagerly awaited sequel to Fly by Night, acclaimed storyteller Frances Hardinge returns to a vivid world rich with humor, danger, and discovery.

  • Inkheart jacket

    Inkheart

    by Cornelia Funke

    Published 2005

    About this book

    More by this author

    Characters from books literally leap off the page in this engrossing, action-packed fantasy by the author of The Thief Lord.

We have 6 read-alikes for Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by J.K. (Joanne) Rowling
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
    The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
    by Lynda Cohen Loigman
    Lynda Cohen Loigman's delightful novel The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern opens in 1987. The titular ...
  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Women
    The Women
    by Kristin Hannah
    Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now