Introduction: The story of the Clay Marble, by Minfong Ho, takes place in Cambodia during the late 1970's. A communist group called the Khmer Rouge took control of the country and treated the people with great brutality. People were forced to leave the cities and work as farmers in the fields. They had very little to eat and many were killed for stealing food or trying to escape. Then soldiers from neighbouring Vietnam invaded Cambodia to fight against the Khmer Rouge.

Main characters:   Dara   Sarun   Jantu   Nea   Chnay   

Introduction 2: The arrival of the Vietnamese soldiers gave many people a chance to escape from the fields where they had to work. Most of them tried to get to Thailand which borders Cambodia to the north. There they settled in refugee camps and were fed by Thai people and United Nations help organizations.

The events of the Clay Marble are narrated by Dara, a twelve year old Cambodian girl, and they take place mostly at refugee camps along the border with Thailand.

Chapter 1: The story opens with Dara and her family travelling through the jungle in an oxcart. They are trying to escape to the refugee camp across the border in Thailand, after their village has been burned by Khmer Rouge soldiers. Dara remembers back to the first time the Khmer soldiers came and made everyone in her village work in the rice fields. She also thinks about the killing of her own father at that time. Her memories of the past are interrupted when she hears a bell ringing. Soon she sees another oxcart which is piled high with sacks of rice seed. The driver of the oxcart tells Dara and her brother Sarun that they can get their own free rice when they arrive at the refugee camp. This makes them very happy.

Chapter 2: They finally arrive at the refugee camp, with its countless tents and little wooden huts. They find a place to stop and make their house; close by another family that had arrived a short time before them. The daughter of this family, called Nea, starts talking to them and invites them to eat some rice. After Nea and Dara come back from having a wash, the two families sit down together to eat dinner. For the first time in a long time, Dara sleeps happily that night.

Chapter 3: Next morning she helps Nea fetch some water from the well. Jantu, Nea's cousin, is at the well and helps Dara. Jantu is 13, just one year older than Dara. Later Dara helps her brother to make a house, and then they go to the food truck which has brought them their lunch. Dara cannot believe how lucky she is!

Chapter 4: Dara travels with Jantu's family to the place where food and rice seed is distributed by the United Nations workers. They return to their camp with their oxcart laden with large sacks of supplies. Sarun, who has obviously fallen a little in love with Nea, asks her if she will return to his village with him to help him plant the rice seed. Dara doesn't hear Nea's answer because Jantu drags her away.

Chapter 5: Jantu and Dara tell each other stories, and Dara watches as Jantu, who is very clever with her hands, makes many little toys and other objects. Later a boy called Chnay, who is a bully, comes over and breaks one of the toy dolls that Jantu has made and given to Dara. Dara is angry and sad, but Jantu says it doesn't matter and quickly makes a little ball of mud. Dara doesn't want it at first, but then takes it, thinking it could be magic.

Chapter 6: Dara watches Jantu as Jantu makes a whole village of clay animals and people. While Jantu is working the two of them talk together about their families. They imagine what it would be like if Nea married Sarun. Dara feels happy and peaceful as she thinks of her future.

Chapter 7: The two girls play with the toy village every day, and try not to listen to the sounds of fighting that is getting nearer and nearer to their camp. Cambodia soldiers try to persuade Sarun to fight with them against the Vietnamese. Then they hear bombs dropping not far away and everyone rushes to get away from the camp as quickly as they can. During their flight they see a food truck standing next to a kitchen. Jantu and Dara leave the others to investigate but they are disappointed to find that all the food pots are empty. Just as they are leaving the truck, a bomb explodes nearby. Jantu's baby brother has been hit by the bomb and Dara rushes off to get help.

Chapter 8: Dara tries to find her family. She is helped by someone from the International Red Cross, who goes back with her to treat the injured baby. He says the baby has to go to hospital, and Jantu decides to go with him, leaving Dara to find their families to say where Jantu is. Dara is scared and thinks she will never find her family again. Jantu makes her another magic clay marble to give her strength.

Chapter 9: Dara returns to the camp to look for her and Jantu's families. She sleeps alone for the first time in her life, with the clay marble to comfort her. Next morning she hears that more bombs are likely to be dropped on the camp. An old man gives her some food, then she goes off to find the food truck. When she reaches the place where her house was standing before, there is nothing there. All she finds a few broken pieces of the toy animals Jantu has made. She starts to cry.

Chapter 10: As she is crying, Chnay, the bully comes up to her. He tells her that her family have gone away in the oxcart. He gives her some and shows her the direction in which her family left. She invites him to go with her and he agrees.

Chapter 11: As they are walking through the jungle, they come upon a soldiers' camp and hear the soldiers singing. This makes Dara afraid. They creep away and find a shack to sleep in that night. Dara realizes that Chnay has become her friend. Next day, after Chnay has brought her breakfast, they walk around the refugees' camp to look for Dara's family. On the fourth day of their search, they smell the delicious smell of roast chicken coming from the soldiers' kitchen. Chnay goes to steal a piece of chicken, but a monkey that is guarding the kitchen starts screeching. This alerts the cook, who rushes in to see what the commotion is about. Kung Silor, who is leader of the soldiers, also appears. He takes a liking to Dara and agrees to let her work in the kitchen in exchange for food. Dara believes that the magic marble has brought her strength and luck.

Chapter 12: Next day Dara works in the kitchen. She offers the monkey some food and they become friends. Dara waits for Chnay to come and tell her if he has found her family. He has not, and they make a deal: he will look for the family every day if she feeds him in the evening. After a few days, Chnay says he thinks he has seen Dara's brother Sarun at a soldiers parade. Next day Dara is unhappy that the cook is using rice seed for food. She says it should be given to the farmers to grow new rice. The cook tells her that there is no more cooking rice and that anyway there are more soldiers to feed now than farmers. Then suddenly she sees her brother Sarun. She tries to call him but can only whisper and he doesn't hear her. As she is running after him, she hears her a voice she knows very well. She has found her mother at last!

Chapter 13: As she sits with her family again, she tells them about the clay marble and the luck it has brought her. She then finds out that Nea is to be married to Sarun. Dara wants to go back to find Jantu, but Sarun says it is dangerous. Dara realizes that Sarun has changed. He likes being a soldier and is not interested in being a farmer any more. Dara talks with Nea and persuades her that they should load their oxcart with supplies and return to their village ( even without Sarun). The two of them clean and repair the cart. They then load it up with sacks of rice seeds. They are ready to leave once Sarun is finished with the soldiers' flag-raising ceremony and Jantu has been collected from the other camp.

Chapter 14: Sarun is angry that they have got everything ready to leave without telling him., but he gets them the pass they need to go to Jantu's camp. Next day Dar and Nea set out together in the loaded oxcart. They enter the camp, which is now arranged in a very orderly way with straight roads and neat, clean houses. They search the different hospitals for Jantu and her sick brother. They are shocked to see that the children there are thin for lack of food. Finally, they find Jantu and her brother. They are introduced to Duoic, a boy who has lost both of his legs. He doesn't want to live any more, but Jantu gives him hope by making him get a water bottle for himself.

Chapter 15: On their way back they talk about Duoic and how life is unfair. They don't notice that it's beginning to get dark and when they come to a crossroads, they are not sure which road to take. They obviously choose the wrong one because after going a little way, someone shoots at them. Dara hears a voice which he recognises as Sarun's and at that moment she sees blood on Jantu's shirt. Sarun says it is too dangerous to try and get her to the hospital in the dark - she will have to wait until morning.

Chapter 16: Dara's mother tries to help Jantu and she survives the night. Next day Sarun does not want to help until the flag-raising ceremony is over. He expects everyone to come and watch, but Dara says she is staying with Jantu. They listen together to the speeches of the military parade. They talk about many things, including the powers of the clay marble is not magic. As Dara sings to Jantu, Jantu dies quietly in her sleep.

Chapter 17: Sarun comes in saying that he wants to join the army as a soldier. He has no more thoughts of being a farmer. He tries to wake Jantu, not realizing that she is dead. Everyone wants to go home, but Sarun refuses. Dara takes the clay in her hand and says she is going back with or without Sarun. All the others, including Nea, say they will go with her, and finally Sarun changes his mind. Dara looks at her hand and sees that she has made the clay into a perfectly round marble.

Chapter 18: Some time after Jantu has died, Chnay appears with a cowbell he has made for Jantu. He now feels ashamed that he broke her toys before. He gives the bell to Dara who invites him to come back to the village with them. He refuses, saying he has made some new friends at the camp. Then the whole family sets off on the oxcarts on their long journey back to their village. As they are going along a bumpy path, one of Dara's marbles rolls out of her pocket into a puddle. Dara wants to stop everyone to get it, but Nea tells her not to worry, the magic that was in the marble is now in Dara. Dara understands and taking the other marble in her hand, she throws it into the jungle. She laughs aloud in joy, knowing that she is strong and she is going home!

Afterword: Ten years later Dara looks back on her time at the refugee camps. She says that there is still trouble and fighting in Cambodia, but that it has kept away from their village. She remembers her friend Jantu and says that she is now good at making clay animals herself. She is waiting for the time she will be with Jantu again so that Jantu can teach her one more time how to make a perfect marble.