The Sunflower Sword

By: Mark Sperring
Illustrated by: Miriam Latimer
Publisher: Anderson Press
Publication Date: January 2011
ISBN: 978-0761374862
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler
Review Date: March 14, 2011

The knights stood fast and fought as they were surrounded by dragons of every color, but there was one little knight who wanted to join in the fighting, “but his mother said he couldn’t.” She held fast to his shoulders and peered over his colander helmet as the battle raged. She wanted to know why he wanted to have a sword and when he said, “To whoosh and swoosh in the air,” she smiled and went off to find one. The little knight’s eyes grew wide and his mouth grew pouty when she came back with a sunflower sword, but he decided it would just have to do and “could pretend” it was a sword.

The little night swooshed and whooshed the sunflower to see just what kind of sword he had and told his mother, “It won’t be any good for fighting dragons.” It would have to do because soon he’d be heading to Dragon Hill to do battle with imaginary dragons as they swirled around the hill. All of a sudden the wide-eyed little knight was surrounded by flames and smoke when a REAL dragon came through the trees. He stood fast and soon was on the back of the scaly dragon ready to do battle with his sunflower sword. Would the little knight be brave enough to slay this dragon? Would the sunflower sword … swoosh … whoosh … do the trick?

This is a charming, imaginative story of a little knight who went into battle with a sunflower sword. Every youngster has a vivid imagination, but for this little knight it took a lot to believe that a sunflower sword could really slay a dragon. There was a certain panache and daring do about this little guy, even if his cowboy boots and colander helmet didn’t quite match the seriousness of his imagined profession. The artwork was bright, colorful, and meshed perfectly with the tale.

Quill says: If you have a little wanna-be dragon slayer you’re going to love this book!