Emergency! Emergency! Vehicles to the Rescue; Rhian Williams, illustrated by Tom Jellett

‘Fire trucks, police cars and ambulances too! Here come the vehicles to rescue you.’ And so begins a fun and accessible look at the emergency services that operate across Australia.

From the fabulous indie publisher Wild Dog Books comes this awesome non-fiction picture book narrative that celebrates the emergency vehicles and the men and women that operate them. You never know when you might need to call upon one of the many emergency services that operate throughout Australia but whatever, wherever and whenever the need, there are vehicles and people who will be there as quickly as possible to do everything they can to save the day.

Delightful rhyming prose and colourful illustrations introduce a whole host of emergency vehicles used in Australia from the familiar police cars, ambulances and fire trucks to the less common rescue drones, dinghies and water bombers. Whether emergencies occur in the air, on land or at sea, there is a rescue vehicle for every occasion.

I love that the vehicles and their personnel are shown in some of the scenarios that they encounter; the flying doctors plane rescues a man with a snake bite, the coastguard races to save sailors aboard a yacht, the surf rescue jet ski zooms across the waves to help a swimmer in trouble, a helicopter flies in to help climbers stranded on a mountain slope and police cars assist a little boy lost in the city. This diverse range of events really highlight the varied work of the emergency services and help children to understand the essential role of the workers. Don’t be surprised if little ones are inspired to become firefighters, royal flying doctors or surf life savers.

Children are never too young to begin to understand how important it is to try and keep themselves and others safe and Emergency! Emergency! is a great starting point for such a conversation. Most importantly, it gives readers the number that they need should they find themselves or someone else needing an emergency vehicle, ‘Call Triple Zero - 000 - to get help.’ Further facts about each of the emergency vehicles rounds things off. Whilst the book in itself is great, the accompanying teacher and parent notes that can be found on the Wild Dog Books website (www.wdog.com.au) elevate the title further and add extra value with plenty of questions, discussion prompts, advice and activities.

With huge thanks to Wild Dog Books for the copy I received in exchange for an honest review.

Recommended for 3+