In the second installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling manages to create her magic (pun intended) all over again. This book is a bit more complex than the Sorcerer's Stone was. The plot is a bit more difficult to figure out (for young readers), but the dialogue and the relationships between the characters are still very well developed and compelling.

I absolutely love the character of Gilderoy Lockhart, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He is a lovable character ---that is, he is totally in love with himself. He definately provides the comic relief in this novel. In the first three novels, I think Rowling was concious of the need for comic relief since they were predominately written for children. It wasn't until the adult world started reading about Harry, Ron and Hermione that Rowling started writing for a much larger audience. Sometimes this shows through in the first three novels, but that is to be expected when reading adolescent fiction.

In this novel, there is a monster loose at Hogwarts; the Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Some students are being attacked; those students who are not pure-blood are very worried. It seems that this monster, or its creator, hated half-bloods and wanted to kick them out of Hogwarts. For those of you who do not know, Harry Potter's mother was born to muggle parents so he needs to worry about this monster also. Luckily, most of the attacks only result in the victims being "petrified" instead of killed. These victims will be able to be healed by the powers of witchcraft.

Again, the threesome of Ron, Harry and Hermione are in the midst of all of the action. They figure out what the monster is, where it is located, and what to do about it. (I don't think this is a spoiler since everyone knows that Harry, Ron and Hermione exist in all seven books of the series).

These novels have everything a child could love, and some of us muggle adults too! They have mystery, fun loving characters, and great heroes, who just happen to be children too! The threesome are about 12 years old now, so besides monsters and magic they are dealing with hormones too. That just might be the scariest thing of all....

Everyone should read this novel to find out how Harry, Ron, and Hermione survive another year at Hogwarts. (I thought my middle school years were tough!) The Chamber of Secrets is wonderfully written for children and for adults as well!

Keep on reading!