Meet Minfong Ho

Minfong Ho was born in 1951 in Rangoon, Burma. Ho spent her childhood in Singapore and Thailand. As a result, she is fluent in three different languages ; English, Thai and Chinese. Ho attended Tungai University in Taiwan before transferring to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In 1973 she received a

degree in history and economics from Cornell. While there, she began a short story called “Sing to the Dawn.” She didn't expect many people to read the story. She wrote it because she missed Thailand. Eventually, she entered it into a short story contest. Ho won an award and was asked to turn the story into a novel, which was published in 1975. 

After graduating, Ho returned to Asia and worked as journalist in Singapore. In 1976 Ho married John Value Dennis Jr. and moved back to Ithaca, New York. There she earned a master’s degree in creative writing from Cornell and worked as a teaching assistant.

In 1980 Ho saw images of Cambodian war refugees on television. She took a leave

of absence from her teaching job and went to work as a nutritionist and relief worker for Catholic Relief Services on the Thai-Cambodian border. This experience helped her to write The Clay Marble (1991).

source: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/clay_marble.pdf

Introducing The Clay Marble

The protagonists in The Clay Marble are two Cambodian girls: Dara, who is twelve, and Jantu, who is thirteen. Both the girls and their families are caught in the middle of the warfare that is ravaging their country. Through the experiences of these characters, the author, Minfong Ho, shows readers what life is like for innocent people living in an area torn apart by war.

Dara, her mother and older brother flee to the refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border. At the border, they find food, rice seed and farm tools with which they can start a new life. 

Dara found a friend, Jantu, with whom she creates a little world of peace and laughter. 

But their happiness did not last very long. Dara is separated from her family when fighting and shelling hits the camp. She must fend herself. She must find a new source of strength within herself, in order to survive and search for her family. 

Comment on this novel :

• "....a moving and sensitive account, told by someone who worked at camps on Thai-Cambodian border." - Parents Magazine, USA

source : http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/clay_marble.pdf