- Hardcover: 180 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) (January 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0395771552
- ISBN-13: 978-0395771556
- Product Dimensions: 22 x 14.2 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,800,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Dara's is one of the thousands of Cambodian families separated or destroyed by war, but there is hope as she and her brother and mother head for a refugee camp on the Thailand border. Once safely there, Dara makes friends with Jantu, who has an almost magical touch in creating toys from mud and scraps of fabric. When the camp is bombed, Jantu makes a magic marble out of clay that helps Dara track down her family and then return to the hospital for Jantu and her brother. Like clay dolls themselves, Ho's ( Rice Without Rain ) characters seem to walk through their parts--their emotional turmoil, rather than being revealed, is simply stated. Despite a potentially compelling story and setting, this novel never comes to life. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-9-- After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, 12-year-old Dara, her older brother Sarun, and their mother journey to the Thai border in search of food. Here they meet the remnants of another Cambodian family, one of whose members, Jantu, becomes Dara's friend; another, Nea, falls in love with Sarun. Life is going along well until infighting among neighboring guerrilla groups forces the families to flee again. In the confusion, Dara and Jantu become separated from the main group. After many incidents, they are reunited with their families, although Jantu is shot in the process and dies soon after. Sarun, once a proud farmer, wants to join the military. Dara courageously stands up to him, and convinces him to return home with the family. The title comes from Jantu's effervescence and manual dexterity, the combination of which impresses Dara as magic. She believes a clay marble, having been invested with Jantu's magic, gives her the courage to get through her ordeals. Dara and Jantu are well drawn, but the rest of the characters are not much more than pasteboard figures. Ho excels at tropical description, evoking climate and flaura with skill. The contrasts of frantic activity and enervating inaction of refugee life are also vividly depicted. However, Dara's vocabulary when she thinks to herself does not ring true for her age; few 12-year-olds would consciously characterize themselves as "irritable" or others as "glib"--certainly not illiterate 12-year-olds from rural areas. Older children might find this novel of interest for its historical milieu or slice-of-life realism, albeit from a different reality. --John Philbrook, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Clay Marble,
By A Customer
This review is from: Clay Marble (Paperback)
In the book The Clay Marble by Mingfong Ho, Dara, the main character, facessome extreme problems such as the bombing in Cambodia, which causes another problem inside herself: fear. The constant bombing causes her family to move excessively, and in one place, they met up with a family consisting of a grandfather, two daughters, and an infant son. More bombing and moving occurs, causing Dara to get lost from her group. Dara now has to find her way back to her family without getting hurt. I really enjoyed this book because of the captivating plot line and the characters. The plot line was very intriguing because there are many moods to it. Sometimes it is emotional like when one of the daughters is dying, sometimes it is funny like when Dara and Jantu are insulting each other in a joking way. I could relate to these feelings, but there were also awkward times when I couldn't, like when Jantu died. This interesting plot line brought me into the book. I also enjoyed the characters. These characters were full of wit, emotion, and cleverness. I especially liked Chnay, the bully in their village. I also enjoyed watching him experience a rite of passage throughout the book. He went from being a destructive, vile person, to being a helpful, caring one. Although I really liked this novel, I also thought the plot went a wee bit too fast. With all the war going on during it, I thought it was inappropriate to put more and more fighting when I felt this story was supposed to be about how Dara survives without her family. This also gave me the feeling that the author focused more on fighting than on Dara, which I thought was unsuitable. Though the plot line was a bit fast, I highly recommend this book. I think that this book really teaches you in the subject of Cambodian history while giving you enjoyment.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Clay Marble Review,
By A Customer
This review is from: Clay Marble (Paperback)
The Clay Marble, by Minfong Ho is a book about a girl named Dara who goes across the Cambodian border to seek refuge with her family in a refugee camp. As she is traveling, she gets separated from her family and has to go back and find them. She goes through many challenges to be safe with her family and loses many friends and family members along the way. Through Dara's actions, she shows how strong she is. This was a very inspirational book that I liked very much.I liked this book because the main character was expressed as such a strong girl. She was very inspirational when she went on to try to find her family. After all that she had been through, she stayed strong and kept going on. Also, the plot line keeps you reading. It is a roller coaster story because sometimes it is emotional and sweet like Jantu making her a clay marble, then disaster strikes such as baby stepping on a land mine. This is a book that I could never put down just because the plot was so intriguing. The last reason that I liked the book so much is because I usually would not read a historical novel, but the way that this novel was written, it did not bore me. It said the historical facts, yet kept me interested in the book. For instance, it told about Cambodian life in a way of adding tragedy and joy to it instead of just boring facts. It is very tragic when Jantu dies, yet joyous when Dara finds her family. The only thing that I did not like was that it was a bit slow in the beginning when they were traveling. The book rolled along and got more and more interesting, so the slow part in the beginning was made up for in the end. This is a very captivating novel that I would recommend to everyone.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Clay Marble Review,
By A Customer
This review is from: Clay Marble (Paperback)
The Clay Marble, by Minfong Ho is a book about a girl named Dara who goes across the Cambodian border to seek refuge with her family in a refugee camp. As she is traveling, she gets separated from her family and has to go back and find them. She goes through many challenges to be safe with her family and loses many friends and family members along the way. Through Dara's actions, she shows how strong she is. This was a very inspirational book that I liked very much.I liked this book because the main character was expressed as such a strong girl. She was very inspirational when she went on to try to find her family. After all that she had been through, she stayed strong and kept going on. Also, the plot line keeps you reading. It is a roller coaster story because sometimes it is emotional and sweet like Jantu making her a clay marble, then disaster strikes such as baby stepping on a land mine. This is a book that I could never put down just because the plot was so intriguing. The last reason that I liked the book so much is because I usually would not read a historical novel, but the way that this novel was written, it did not bore me. It said the historical facts, yet kept me interested in the book. For instance, it told about Cambodian life in a way of adding tragedy and joy to it instead of just boring facts. It is very tragic when Jantu dies, yet joyous when Dara finds her family. The only thing that I did not like was that it was a bit slow in the beginning when they were traveling. The book rolled along and got more and more interesting, so the slow part in the beginning was made up for in the end. This is a very captivating novel that I would recommend to everyone.
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