Following the creators’ I Am Smoke (2021) and I Am Gravity (2024), the visible spectrum illuminates some of its roles, both physical and metaphysical.vWriting in first person from the point of view of light itself (“I spin the wheel of life”), Herz compares his subject to a rolling marble and an ocean wave. With nods to X-rays, radio waves, and other forms of “traveling energy,” he describes the topic first in simple terms and then in greater detail in a follow-up section. Light illuminates everything earthly and astronomical. Moreover, Herz goes on, light has been long cherished as a symbol of a “guiding presence,” glowing atop candles and in places of worship as a reminder “that there is something greater out there.” Using long-exposure photo shoots, López once more finds an inspired way to depict the physical phenomena that the author personifies in his two-tiered explanatory narratives. Her artwork has impressionistic elements, depicting a pair of tan-skinned children and a sometimes-animate plush bunny as they celebrate sunbeams and a rainbow, gaze into mirrors, swish in a pool to show how light bends in water, and point to the nighttime sky. Despite a bit of poetic license in the claim that all living things depend on light (since there are some dark-dwelling creatures that don’t), this eloquent, elegant testimonial offers much to engage heads as well as hearts. “Until the stars dim, I show the way. I AM LIGHT.” A bright outing, rich in both fact and feeling. (illustrator’s note) (Informational picture book. 7-11)