Module 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Book Cover Image:

Book Summary:

This is the story of a young boy, orphaned as a baby, who is destined to be a great wizard. Despite his extended family's urging against it, Harry is found and invited to Hogwart's, a school for wizardry. This is incredibly life-changing for Harry as it begins to explain many strange things he has encountered throughout the years. Harry finds himself in the center of a battle between good and evil and ends up as the key to conquering the darkness. This does not come without his share of mistakes, enemies, and quirky experiences.

APA Reference of Book:

Rowling, J.K. (1998). Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books.

Impressions:

My major impression of this book is that it is an excellent beginning to the Harry Potter series. It provides much character development, a complex and easily extended plot, and a variety of twists and turns unexpected by the reader. I loved that the Rowling was able to provide so much context to a world that is so unknown to the reader. The imagery held within the text is impossibly good in that it provides a constant picture in the reader's mind as to what this magical tale looks like.
I also appreciated that there were so many characters developed within the text. The author did not simply focus on one or two and leave you guessing on the rest, but truly dove deep into the characters mentioned in the book and really set the stage for the parts they would play in the future.
This book is one of the best beginnings I have seen in the way of series books. Although at times the story feels slower than typical good vs. evil stories, the extended storyline is set up in a way that is truly lasting and convincing. This is ever-so important and explains it wide popularity among young and old alike.

Professional Review:

Gr. 4-8. Given the furor this book has already caused in the U.S., it seems almost redundant to review it; however. . . . Harry Potter's exploits during his second year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry completely live up to the bewitching measure of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a Booklist Editors' Choice, 1998. Harry's summer with the spiteful Dursleys is as dismal as his life with them before Hogwarts, and not only that, a neurotic house-elf suddenly appears to warn him against returning to school. Harry, of course, goes back to school. Once there, he finds himself in danger, as predicted by the house-elf. Strange things are happening. Why can only Harry hear an eerie voice talking about escaping and killing? Who or what has put several students into a petrified state? Harry and his sidekicks, Ron and Hermione, work furiously to get to the bottom of it all. It doesn't help that the rumor spreads that Harry is the long-dreaded heir of Slytherin, one of the school's founders, who purportedly created a Chamber of Secrets that houses a grotesque monster that can only be released by the heir. The mystery, zany humor, sense of a traditional British school (albeit with its share of ghosts, including Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom), student rivalry, and eccentric faculty, all surrounded by the magical foundation so necessary in good fantasy, are as expertly crafted here as in the first book. 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.

Reference: 

Review of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J. K. Rowling. (1999). Booklist, 95(18). Retrieved from www.titlewave.com 

Library Uses:

This text could be used in a book to movie reading competition for students. With as many books as they have made into movies for teens these days, the students could engage in a reading competition to see who could read the most books made into a movie and answer questions. Almost like a Battle of the Books competition.