See inside 8 amazing emergency vehicles with the master of cross-sections.

Biesty has selected eight vehicles from different parts of the world that carry out rescue operations by land, sea and air to be the subjects of his latest info-graphic picture book. Given the close-up treatment herein are a Hi-Tech Police Car, a Fire Truck, a Flying Firefighter, a Submarine Rescue vehicle (part of a NATO Submarine Rescue System), a Giant Fireboat, the Agusta Westland AW139 Air Ambulance, a 27 Tamar lifeboat and an ambulance. As with the earlier, Giant Vehicles, a plethora of facts written by Rod Green surround each of Biesty's amazingly detailed pen/ink and watercolour washed illustrations, and there are numerous flaps (engineered by Andy Mansfield) under which more information is to be found. It's a good job that this book is sturdily built: I envisage it being read to destruction having provided countless hours of fascination to child (and perhaps adult) readers. Assuredly, a great way to interest young readers in applied science/ technology: My only quibble is an almost total absence of female personel; I know many girls who aspire to such roles as piloting a plane or driving a fire truck. -- Jill Bennett Red Reading Hub

Stephen Biesty has been illustrating since 1985. He has won several prestigious awards, including the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award (1993) and the UK Literary Association Children's Book Award (2005). Rod Green is a children's writer with a wealth of experience, who has worked for many publishers including Puffin and HarperCollins. For Templar, Rod has written books in the Mean Machines series.