HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

Author: J.K Rowling Illustrator: Mary GrandPre’ Rating: 10/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Humour, Magic Pages: 251 Published in: July 1998 Main Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Voldemort, Ginny, Tom Riddle, Malfoy.

Synopsis: Harry Potter was spending a miserable summer again with his only family, the Dursleys. One day, the Dursleys were having a dinner party and Harry was told to stay up in his room with the door locked so that he could not cause any trouble while the guests were enjoying their food. Harry reluctantly agreed, and whilst he was miserably trotting up the stairs to go into his room, he witnessed a very peculiar sight. It was an ugly, dirty house elf named Dobby, and he was covered in rags. Dobby explains to Harry that Hogwarts was no longer safe for him, and that he should not go back. Harry disagrees and decides to ignore Dobby. As a result, Dobby uses spells to create havoc in the kitchen, making Mr Dursley to imprison Harry in his own room. Luckily, Harry was visited by Ron and his brothers, who use Mr Weasley’s magic car to save him. Harry happily spends the rest of the summer in the Weasley’s home. When reaching the station to get to platform 9 ¾ by the magic wall, Ron and Harry find out that the wall would not let them pass. As there was no other option left to take, they decide to use the magic car to catch up with the train. They both get into deep trouble for using that magic car as lots of muggles (non-magic beings) had spotted them travelling through the air in a small, rusty vehicle. When they all settle into a new year at Hogwarts, a new mystery had already begun to slide its way in. A caretaker’s cat had been petrified and the students found an eerie message written on the wall. Through the walls, Harry hears a strange sound twice that no one else seems to hear. Everyone is alarmed about this and the teachers tried their best to reassure students, but no one seemed to be happy. After finding some clues, Harry, Ron and Hermione figure out that a secret chamber that was hidden in the school had been opened 50 years ago, and a student was killed. Some creature was going round, without anyone noticing, and petrifying people. Now it had been re-opened by someone, but who had opened it? After a few days, a first year student had got petrified, and Harry is determined to find out who had done this. Soon after, Professor Lockhart started a duelling club to teach the pupils how to defend themselves if they were ever in danger. When they were doing this, Harry terrifies everyone when he starts speaking Parseltongue (the ability to talk to a snake). Everyone is scared as only the heir of Slytherin, who was meant to be responsible for opening the chamber, could speak to snakes. Harry comes under even more suspicion when he found the bodies of Justin and nearly headless Nick when they were petrified. Determined to catch the culprit, Ron, Harry and Hermione brew a potion called Polyjuice. The potion allows them to be in the bodies of Slytherins and question Malfoy on the Chamber of Secrets. They find out that Malfoy is not the heir of Slytherin. Later, they find out that Hermione was petrified too! Harry cannot stop hearing strange noises which seemed to be coming from the walls… Harry finds a diary that seemed to answer back at him whenever he wrote in it. Through the conversation, Harry finds out that the diary belonged to Tom Riddle, who had accused Hagrid for opening the chamber. He also knew quite a lot about the secret chamber… Who really opened the chamber and where is it? Who is Tom Riddle? Who is the real heir of Slytherin house? Why did Dobby warn Harry Potter at the start of the story? Read this story to solve the mystery!

Why I like this book: I like this book because it is packed with mystery. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves reading about mysteries, as there are a lot of questions that you are determined to find the answer to. As the story continues, the answers are revealed one by one. You should give this a go! The next book in this series is called: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Make sure to look out for my next book review as this will be the next one!