The sunflower sword

by Mark Sperring

Imagination is a wonderful thing.  The cover of this book shows a dragon in the background gazing upon a child who wears a colander upon his head.  The two are ensconced in a field of sunflowers. 
The child dreams of one day becoming a knight who will fend off ferocious dragons and protect the land.  His mother tells him no.  If he really needs something to "whoosh and swoosh in the air" a sunflower will do.
Of course, some imagination is required to believe in a land filled with dragons: even more to believe in the power of a friendly gesture. However, it was the imaginative way the young knight put the sunflower to work that had me retelling the story just hours after reading it.  This could be a great reader's theater story, particularly with real sunflowers used as props.