Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Rowling's second novel: Harry's second year, the petrified students and Tom Riddle's diary.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second novel in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, covering Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When residents of the school are attacked and magically immobilised, Harry, Ron and Hermione set out to find who is behind it.

Bloomsbury published the book in the United Kingdom on 2 July 1998, and Scholastic followed in the United States on 2 June 1999.

Quick Facts

Author: J. K. Rowling
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English and others
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Bloomsbury (UK)
Illustrator: Cliff Wright (first edition)
Series: Harry Potter
Release number: 2 in series

Facts from the source article.

Background

The summer begins with a visit from Dobby, a house-elf who warns Harry that he is in danger and must not return to Hogwarts. The Weasley brothers rescue him in their father's flying car, and when Harry and Ron cannot get through to Platform 9¾ they fly the enchanted car to school.

A warning appears on a wall that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, and students begin to be petrified. Harry learns he can speak Parseltongue, and Moaning Myrtle shows the friends a diary that belonged to Tom Riddle. Harry and Ron work out that the monster is a Basilisk, a giant snake whose direct gaze kills.

Rowling has said she found the book difficult to finish, yet it won praise and awards from critics, young readers and the book industry, though some thought it too frightening for younger children. Commentators have seen personal identity and racism as its strong themes, and the diary that writes back as a warning against trusting sources whose motives cannot be checked.