chamber of secrets

Harry Potter, book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, came out in 1998. I'm pretty sure that I had no idea, and I'm guessing that most other folks didn't either. My oldest would have 4 in 1998, and didn't really discover these books until 6 or 7. By that time, 3 or 4 of them were out, and when the next one came out, we picked it up in the store, and there may have been a little buzz then, that I became aware of. A few years later, there were lines, kids dressed up, the religious types whining about occult stories and the indoctrination of children. It may have been the wait between books 4 and 5; prior to that they were one a year, but it was a few years before the 5th book came out and people were in a tizzy.

Ah, good times.

I think were pre-ordered the rest of the series on Amazon, and they were delivered on the publish date.

The Chamber steps in up a notch from book one, and we're starting to see the issues and problems these young wizards and witches have to deal with growing with them. The secret in the Chamber of Secrets (other than a creepy monster) appears to be prejudice. The mystery revolves around who is opening the secret chamber--apparently in an effort to turn loose said creepy monster and the magical equivalent of ethnic cleansing. Hint: its the bad guy.

On the positive side of the equation, we've got Harry, his friends Hermione and Ron, and their mentors. We also have trust, faith, honor, and loyalty at work.* Its a manual for how to do the right thing, and an ongoing lesson about how stupid kids can be when it comes to telling the truth to the adults that are trying to help them. Why would religious types have any problem with this?

Get your 'good vs. evil' on. Read this book!


* Sounds like half of the Scout Law. The rest are probably in this book too.