Harry Potter
and the Chamber of Secrets
by J. K. Rowling
first British printing: July 1998, Bloomsbury Books
first American printing: June 2, 1999, Scholastic, Arthur
A. Levine Books
illustrations by Mary GrandPré, 1999
Dedication:
For Seán
P. F. Harris, getaway driver and foul-weather friend.
This is the second book of the series.
resources:
- Reader's Guide to Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets
a complete chapter-by-chapter guide with notes and commentary - Canon
Portkey: detailed outline of the book
explore book two with links and cross-references - chapter synopses
- day by day calendar of events in the book
- differences between the British and American versions
- edits and changes to the text
gallery of cover art from around the world (from Leaky Galleries)
word count:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - 85,141 words
Official Word Count Provided by Scholastic Inc TM & © 2004-1996.
All rights reserved.
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audiobooks
- Stephen Fry (UK version)
- Jim Dale (US version)
- film (Warner Bros. - November, 2002)
- video/DVD
- video games (Electronic Arts)
- None yet
- The character of Lockhart is the one Rowling says is most nearly based on a real person, but Rowling won't say who it is (for obvious reasons)
- A working title for this book was Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
- Rowling said that her worst case of writer's block happened as she
worked on this book, realizing with the success of the first book how
much pressure was on her to make this second one at least as good.
Q: Do you ever get writer's block? What do you do when this happens?
A: I've only suffered writer's block badly once, and that was during the writing of Chamber of Secrets. I had my first burst of publicity about the first book and it paralysed me. I was scared the second book wouldn't measure up, but I got through it!