The Clay Marble by Minfong Ho

Cambodia 1980: The twelve year old Dara and her mother and brother have fleed their home to go to a refugee camp at the Cambodian-Thai border. It seems that they are safe there from the soldiers, and Dara finds a new friend in Jantu, a girl who lives in the camp too with her cousin Nea and grandfather. But then the fighting starts again and they all have to leave the camp to find safety elsewhere. During their escape of the camp, Dara loses her mother and brother and Jantu out of sight and has to survive and find them back on her own. Jantu has given Dara a clay marble, a little piece of clay where Jantu used to make toys from. Dara belives the clay marble is a magic one, just because Jantu told her so. Will Dara get help from the magic clay marble and will she survive on her own and find everyone back?
The Clay Marble is a very impressive childrens's book (altough I think it is more a young teen book) I thought it was very realistic and a bit sad because of the things that happened to Dara and her family during the war in Cambodia. I really liked this book because, I wanted to know what was going to happen next with Dara and her family, recommended read!