The whole book, You are Light, takes place within a circle of transparent colored dye-cut dots. This feature is what makes the book unique. As you turn the pages, more of the rainbow is added. What fascinated me, while being well beyond the mental ability of my toddler, was that the colors blended. Each page adds three dots, and only at the end is the full light spectrum present. That would make it a good book when teaching about color or light blending. For younger kids, like my boy, poking all the holes left behind on each page, touching the dots, and looking at the light is entertainment enough. As for the writing, nothing stood out. It could potentially be used to start a discussion about the water cycle.

Recommended age: 1-3 years

Writing style: The sentences are very simple to read, with rhymes that span multiple pages. This is an easier book to decode, which means younger children can read it independently.

Lexile range (unofficial): 210L - 400L
Decoding difficulty: 1/5
Vocabulary difficulty: 2/5
Sentences difficulty: 3/5
Patterns difficulty: 4/5

Illustration style: There really aren't illustrations. The main visual focus of the book is colored, see-through dots that you can shine light through. There is a watercolor symbol in the middle of the circle of dots, representing the ocean and grain, but they are somewhat abstract. A child would not recognize them.

Reality-based: Yes. The book talks about the cycle of water and the sun and how those fuel Earth's creatures. ( )

What makes this book extra special is the center piece. From the cover art you can see the circles that make a color wheel. Each of these circles is made up one ore more layers of lightly tinted film. As pages are turned, more and more of these layers are built up to create the color wheel from the primary colors. ( )

Here’s another book that focuses on color instead of words. Recommended by Astoria Bookshop’s Beach and Brooklyn Public Library’s Payne, this board book features translucent die-cut circles that can be held up to the light for an interactive experience. “I think it works well for very young children and babies that are often obsessed with light,” says Payne. “It’s also great for older kids who think that they’ve outgrown board books, because it does something innovative. It’s a great one to hold up to a window, or a lamp, as you read with your baby and explore that.” Beach agrees: “The illustrations and simple text in this die-cut board book are gorgeous on their own, but the translucent colored circles make it something magical.”

**I received this book via a Goodreads giveaway for an unbiased review**

I read this book with my one-year-old niece and she loved it. The holes are the perfect size for little fingers to grab onto. She wouldn't stop saying "light" and liked feeling the plastic circles. The words weren't stellar, but the physical book was great. ( )

You Are Light is a lovely board book with cutouts on the pages that can be held up to the light while reading the book. It was graphically appealing that takes more challenging STEM concepts and makes them approachable to young audiences referencing various Earth elements. ( )