Book Review: I Am the Light by Henry Herz

by Eliza Bethalper | May 16, 2026 6:36 pm

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh

May 16, 2026 (San Diego) — I Am Light is one of a three-book picture book series written by San Diego author Henry Herz. By treating sunlight as a character who is narrating about itself, the author explains where light is found, how fast it travels, and how photons behave. The reader learns to appreciate light at its source and where light is found in the world’s creatures as well.

The reader learns how light affects our lives and Earth’s creatures. And, of course, the book discusses what it is like to live absent of the sun’s light.

The book ends with a more scientific explanation of light’s properties. From beginning to end, easy to understand language is used for children to grasp and enjoy.

Here is an excerpt:

“When passing between two different

materials, I bend, or refract. A pencil in

a glass of water looks broken because

I move more slowly through water

than through air.”

San Diego writer Henry Herz is the traditionally published author of 14 picture books and dozens of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror short stories for Daily Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Pseudopod, Metastellar, Titan Books, Third Flatiron, Brigids Gate Press, Baen Books, Goblins & Galaxies Magazine, Sally Port Magazine, Gavagai, Dracula Beyond Stoker, and elsewhere. He’s edited ten anthologies for Penguin-Random House, Albert Whitman & Co., Blackstone Publishing, Titan Books, and others. To learn more, visit his website: weww.henryherz.com[1].

Source URL: https://eastcountymagazine.org/book-review-i-am-the-light-by-henry-herz/

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