Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Name: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Author: J. K. Rowling
ISBN: 9787020033447

by J. K. Rowling

Ages 9–12 Reading age 10 Novel Set in school adventurousspooky

A house-elf warns Harry not to return to Hogwarts. He goes anyway, and pupils start being found frozen in the corridors.

A story about children and witches and wizards, adventurous and spooky in tone. We would put it with children of 9–12, and at a reading age of about 10 for reading alone.

Worth knowing before you buy

Frightening scenes

None of this makes it a bad book — often the opposite. It is here so you can decide whether it is right for your child now or in a year or two.

Part of a series

This is book 2 of the Harry Potter series, so there is more to read if it goes down well — which is worth a great deal with a reluctant reader.

Our take on this book

Harry's second year at Hogwarts is disrupted by a monstrous presence: pupils are being found petrified, a warning is daubed on the wall about the Chamber of Secrets being opened, and a disembodied voice only Harry can hear is hunting through the pipes of the school. J. K. Rowling deepens the world in this instalment — flying cars, a duelling club, the mystery of a diary that writes back — while planting seeds that will matter for years to come. It is a proper mystery with a genuinely frightening monster at its heart, so the scares are a notch above the first book, though still safely within reach of the age. For a nine- to twelve-year-old already enchanted by the Philosopher's Stone, it is a satisfying, page-turning second helping, best read in sequence; the growing darkness is part of the appeal for readers ready to graduate from the lighter opening of the series.