My Thoughts

The illustrations glimmer and shine, and make this book glow while the minimal and simple rhyming text make the reading a sweet experience.

The book itself, with its sparse yet perfect for the book text and gorgeous artwork, will work very well for younger audiences (3 – 6 years), though everyone can definitely enjoy it! The information included in the back matter explaining scientific facts about light sources included in the book (fireflies, the rainbow, and more) as well as brief descriptions of the featured holidays is geared towards slightly older kids than the intended audience but will help to explore and understand more about the book.

The book offers opportunities on every page to learn more about the world and nature, and of course, light in its many forms, as it follows four children from different parts of the world using and looking at light in many ways (from Diwali lamps to the Menorah, from the campfire to the candle light, from the flow of the fireflies to the beauty of the northern lights, and more)!

In Conclusion
Khoa Le’s gorgeous poster-worthy illustrations (I know I won’t mind if the publisher decides to make prints available as posters) and the underlying messages of learning as well as cultural diversity make this a worthwhile addition to your young one’s library.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the digital review copy of the featured books. These thoughts are my honest opinions of the books.

This book was created to bring the attention of kids ages 5-8 to the many things in the world that produce light, as well as some of the roles light plays in the world. Its illustrations are beautiful and display multiple races and cultures. Also, in the back of this book you will find interesting facts about light, light sources, and various celebrations of light. This is a lovely children's book.

This is stunningly gorgeous book that became an instant family favorite! My kids are aging out of most books with simple, descriptive wording, but even my older two loved this one. The art is spectacular and the emotion it evokes captures attention even though there isn’t a particular plot or a lot of words.

I loved the broadness of this book’s look at light. Natural lights, man-made lights, daytime, nighttime, seasons, countries, and cultures are all touched on. It’s not a long read, but it’s the kind of picture book that my youngest two will sit on the couch with, pouring over the pictures. And like the best of simple kids’ books, they can pretty much “read” the words based on the illustrations.

We reread this book constantly, and I cannot wait to get it in print! This is definitely the sort of book I can see gifting a lot of copies of as well.

Wow! This is a stunning children’s book. It is truly a piece of art. The illustrations are simply breathtaking and portray different types of light in various contexts across the world. While I would consider the illustrations the highlight of this book, I found the simple rhyming words used to describe each picture to be the perfect accompaniments to the scenery. Each page has the opportunity to provoke conversations between children and parents regarding various types of light, such as thunder storms, northern lights, and fireworks. The final pages of the book provide detailed descriptions of various light forms to help facilitate these conversations. Lastly, this book is culturally-inclusive, spanning different areas of the world and covering forms of light used by various cultural groups (e.g., menorah). Fantastic job!

The illustrations for this book was done beautifully. The rhymes were very good, and it would be a great book for children to learn from.

A cute book for small children about the different forms of light.

The illustrations are simply beautiful. I loved looking at the pictures and the artwork is the best feature of this small book.

Content wise, the book didn’t offer much, unfortunately. Every page contains a few words that rhyme and describe the light. The pages are not very informative but it would be easy to talk to your kid(s) a bit more about everything you see on each page.

There are two pages with information about light for the parents or older kids at the end of the book.

Thank you NetGalley and Millbrook for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful illustrations, filled with diverse people. I enjoyed reading this story! I enjoyed the poetic aspect to the story and enjoyed reflecting on the different types of light.

A beautifully Illustrated book for young children about the different lights they can see. Very early introduction to the multi faith society they live in as illuminates Divali and Hanukkah.
Recommended.
I was given this book by Netgalley and the publisher. This is my voluntary and impartial review.

Good rhymes, breathtaking illustrations. The subtitle led me to imagine more of a nonfiction thrust. The order in which different light sources/reasons for employing light seemed random to me, even after several readings—I think maybe because of the insertion of holidays—yet I did appreciate the observation that many cultures use light in ritual. The illustrations are what carry the book...if they were so-so, I probably wouldn’t purchase it for my small library.

A simple but fun way to show how light fills our lives in so many ways. I like how the author brings in both nature and different cultural traditions. The illustrations add a vibrancy that adds fullness to the rhymes.

This is a great picture book for both younger and older children. It features short rhyming verses alongside gorgeous illustrations that will hold the attention of a much older crowd. The depictions of light throughout the book are marvelously done and extremely eye-catching. The children depicted in this book come from a wide variety of diverse backgrounds. Overall, this is a fantastic addition to the (finally) ever growing catalog of diverse and multicultural picture books.

Adore the concept for this book, the illustrations are simply gorgeous, but I was wanting just a little bit more from it. I wasn't expecting it to be targeted at readers quite so young. It was a wee bit repetitive with the examples used. I'd really love to see a slightly more advanced version of this book for older kids! That way the book could incorporate some of the things I missed in this version. I'd love to see things like the different types of light (UV, infrared) and the spectrum that the human eye can see. I'd also love some simple scientific explanations to go with the examples used for bioluminescence and rainbows etc. But considering the age range this book was obviously intended for, it was very well done!

The illustrations are beautiful. This book is unique in how it addresses a scientific topic. I was initially interested because I order the religion section at my library. This book is not really about religion though, it is more about life in general with religion in the background. Light is a big part of several religious holidays, after all. This would go best in a picture book collection.

Flash and Gleam: Light in Our World is a book aiming to introduce children to various sources of light and ways in which light is used throughout the world.

Like another reviewer mentioned, the intended audience for this book was unclear to me. The poetry accompanying the illustrations is extremely simple - though admittedly effective - but the short "appendix" that explains light in more scientific/cultural detail seemed to be aimed at completely different readers.

The illustrations by Khoa Le are what makes this book, though: absolutely gorgeous, with exquisite use of color and texture. I found myself wanting to get each and every one of them as an art print. (Pretty please, publishers?) Just beautiful.

What a beautiful, astounding book!  With warm colors and a diverse cast, this non-fiction book about light and how we use it creates a sense of understanding through everyday and not-so-everyday experiences.  Take for instance sunrise and sunset--both are natural, and occur everywhere.  Take for instance a lantern festival, or a post-shooting shrine.  Or even, take for instance, a candle or a nightlight.  Light comes into our lives every day, and depending on where we're from or what culture we partake in, our light uses may vary.

The backmatter offers very useful information on light and how it's formed, as well as some quick definitions for some of the events and celebrations the reader will see illustrated in the pages.  

I honestly wish all nonfiction books were like this, that they were all as loving and diverse and lovely as this one.

I loved each page of this! The art is very cute and colorful! It shows different sources of light, be it natural (example: fireflies and the moon) or man-made (during holidays like Xmas, Hanukkah, Diwali and Yi Peng). There's four families shown in the book and they're all from different races (representation yay!)

The only thing I didn't like is that each page only has 4-5 words but then again this is targeted for children. I think it would have been better if there were more lines though.

Overall, this was really cute and I loved the art so much. Definitely recommend this to children that loves reading picture books.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

Lovely book on light. It would have been nice with a light feature in it! But not a bad book. I look forward to seeing it on hardcover as I'd love to experience the colors! I enjoyed reading the short verses on each page. simple,elegant, nice intro to vocabulary for a younger child.

This felt very much like one to flick through at a generous library, rather than rush to purchase. The simple script is made of just three or four words in the shortest rhyming couplets imaginable, and the whole book shows us what light means throughout the day, throughout the world and throughout the year. So we see it give life to plants (and to our human cast when it shines through into their bedrooms), we see light be produced by thunderstorms, we see a sunset, then move on to the northern lights and suchlike, before hitting a spread of human festivals – Diwali, Christmas etc – to close. It's all attractive, well-intentioned and well-done, it just seems like a most unusual topic for a book to concern itself and its young audience with. For that result I can't see any urge to click 'buy'.

This is such a gorgeous book. The illustrations are absolutely amazing with lovely textures.
At first I wasn't sure about the accompanying text, but when read aloud it fits perfectly. It flows so well and adds depth to the images.
A fantastic book which shows light in various locations and times around the world. This would be a perfect jumping off point for larger discussions.
There is information at the back of the book for adults, to facilitate further discussion on how light is created and the various festivals depicted in the story.
I cannot wait to find a physical copy when it is released!

Oh what a beautiful book! Flash and Gleam by Sue Fleiss was an instant purchase for me. Light is something that impacts each and every moment of our day and we use it in so many different ways, but often children miss the importance. Fleiss looks at how light touches our life and does so magically. I absolutely adore this book and can't wait to add it to my classroom to initiate inquiry and wonder.