When asked, what made J.K. Rowling write Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ,
she answered that the idea that we could have a child who escapes from the confines of the adult
world and goes somewhere where he has power, both literally and metaphorically, really
appealed to me.
Summary:
Actually in this fantasy story the orphan Harry Potter not only possesses magical abilities, but also
experiences the most unbelievable situations which are highly unlikely ever to happen in reality and therfore requires
a lot of fantasy on the reader's side. That's probably why the story is so popular among the young and old:
in our world full of restrictions and limitations people probably like someone like Harry Potter who can
do things ordinary people can't do.
Harry's world is divided into the Muggle world for people without magical faculties and the world of
wizards and sorcerers. Harry belongs to the latter one, although at first he is not sure about this. He
attends, however, a boarding school for witchcraft and wizardry, called Hogwarts. After the summer holiday Harry
is picked up by his schoolmates Fred, Ron and George Weasley and together they fly with him to Hogwarts
in an old Ford Anglia.
It is at Hogwarts where the most unlikely and sinister things happen. Hogwarts, a typical private school, is split up into four houses
which are competing against each other, be it academically or in the game of Quidditch. Harry, George, Hermione and Ginny live in the house
called Gryffindor. Their greatest enemy is Draco Malfoy, who lives in the house of Slytherin. It is the evil Malfoy
who is suspected to be the heir of Salazar Slytherin who has opened the chamber of Secrets and thus let loose
a killing monster. It has recently killed or 'petrified' some Hogwarts pupils spreading fear and panic among the whole school.
But suspicion also falls on Harry Potter who not only knows how to use the Invisibility Cloak, the Silver Sword or the Sorting Hat,
but is the only one who speaks Parseltongue, a language understood only by snakes.
In the end it is Harry who is able to find and enter the Chamber of Secrets where he finds a certain
Tom Marvolo Riddle (= I am Lord Voldemort) who died 50 years ago, but still can exercise spells and charms
on people. Harry also faces the monster snake 'basilik', which appears from the mouth of a stony statue of
Slytherin. When the monster snake is about to kill Harry, it is blinded by a phoenix, called Fawkes. Thus Harry can kill
the snake with a magical Silver Sword.
There is great relief at Hogwarts, Harry is praised for his bravery and all the pupils are sent home for their summer holiday
without them having to take exams.
 Here you'll find the Official Harry Potter Website.
More information on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter stories can be found at:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/index.htm
and here:
 Wizards will love this site about Harry Potter. Synopses and character guides will appeal to the reader as well as info on Nocholas Flamel, the real 12th century alchemist, who acts as the philosopher in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
and also at:
If you like Rowling's fantasy stories, have a look at them:
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