The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny.

But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone -- or something -- starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects... Harry Potter himself?

J.K. Rowling is the author of the record-breaking, multi-award-winning Harry Potter novels. Loved by fans around the world, the series has sold over 450 million copies, been translated into 79 languages, and made into 8 blockbuster films. She has written three companion volumes in aid of charity: "Quidditch Through the Ages" and "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" (in aid of Comic Relief), and "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" (in aid of Lumos), as well as a film script inspired by "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." J.K. Rowling is currently collaborating on a stage play, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child -- Parts I & II," which will open in London s West End in the summer of 2016. In 2012, J.K. Rowling s digital company Pottermore was launched, where fans can enjoy her new writing and immerse themselves deeper in the wizarding world. J.K. Rowling has written a novel for adult readers, "The Casual Vacancy," and also writes crime novels under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. She has received many awards and honors, including an OBE for services to children s literature, France s Legion d honneur, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Jim Kay won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2012 for his illustrations in "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness. Jim studied illustration at the University of Westminster and since graduating has worked in the archives of Tate Britain and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Jim has produced concept work for television and contributed to a group exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He now lives and works in Northamptonshire, England, with his partner and a rescued greyhound."