Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #323614 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From Publishers Weekly
While many U.S. readers will be familiar with Australian Steve Irwin's good-mate/wild-man persona from his smash hit cable show Crocodile Hunter, they may be surprised by the passion and thought with which Steve and his wife, Terri, undertake wildlife conservation work. Neither will fans be bored: this entertaining, exciting autobiography/adventure tale/environmental tract is packed, as advertised, with incredible feats. Steve is son to the man "recognized as the greatest herpetologist in Australia and revered throughout the world as a legend for catching highly venomous snakes" bare-handed. The first section recounts Steve's childhood with his conservation-minded father and mother ("She was the Mother Teresa of wildlife rehabilitation"), who built the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park, soon enlarged and renamed the Australian Zoo, one of the best zoological facilities in the world. As the park expanded, Steve learned to leap from boats onto the backs of crocodiles of all sizes, capturing them for relocation. The second section is told by Terri, an impressive Oregonian nature lover who was running a wildlife rehabilitation facility when she met Steve on a trip to Australia. While Steve punctuates his writing with phrases like "Holy snappin' duck poo!" Terri offers a calmer perspective on their commitment to wildlife conservation. The final section discusses the Irwins' current efforts at the Australian Zoo: "Our passion for wildlife is our elixir of life and we'll die defending animals that others deem dangerous and threatening." What could have been an easy rip-off of a popular show is a fun, educational read for adults and children alike.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-This is a chatty, entertaining romp through some wild adventures, with a touch of romance and some conservation thrown in for good measure. Steve Irwin's parents opened Beerwah Reptile Park in Queensland. Over the years, with the motto "we'll have to learn as we go," the park expanded into Australia Zoo, with the mission statement of "conservation through exciting education." The Irwins are passionate about wildlife. Steve's chapters, the first five, are energetic, enthusiastic, colloquial, and packed with animal encounters. Terri's chapters, the next five, are more restrained but no less interesting. The book is generously illustrated with lots of excellent black-and-white and color photos of flora, fauna, and family. The design is appealing; combined with the topic, it should attract reluctant readers. This book skips over a lot of the dry facts-no birth dates here-and teens will read it for the exciting stories and the insight into the husband and wife in front of the camera.

Susan Salpini, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Well known as one of the stars of the Discovery Channel, Irwin, with the assistance of his wife, Terri, has many exciting tales to tell. The son of a man who loved and collected reptiles and a woman who reared orphaned kangaroos, Irwin grew up surrounded by wildlife. He and his father traveled the back roads collecting snakes and rescuing crocodiles. Irwin tells of early encounters with venomous snakes, learning to capture small crocodiles by leaping onto their backs from a boat, and setting traps for the truly enormous crocodiles. Terri enters the picture in the early 1990s when she traveled to Australia and met Steve at the family's zoo. At that point the pair began filming the wildlife documentaries that became Crocodile Hunter on Animal Planet, and the narrative turns to the adventures of working with dangerous wildlife all over the world. Written in the breezy, Australian slang-ridden style of Irwin's narration of his wildlife shows and heavily illustrated with photos from the duo's travels. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Entertaining, but too darned short!
To millions around the world, Steve Irwin is known as "the Crocodile Hunter," thanks to his wildly popular series on Animal Planet. To millions more, he's known as "that crazy Australian guy." THE CROCODILE HUNTER, a book by Steve and Terri Irwin, won't change anyone's mind about Steve's sanity, nor will it provide new insight into the man and his adventures for those already intimately familiar with his television exploits. THE CROCODILE HUNTER will, however, provide a few hours of distraction from the tube and more leisurely exploration of Steve and Terri's usual talking points about wildlife conservation.

THE CROCODILE HUNTER is a thin book, weighing in at 202 pages with largish print and a lot of white space. But Steve Irwin has always been about feeding the audience easy-to-digest material, so the book's content-light character shouldn't come as a surprise. The intent here is to deliver a text version of the television show, THE CROCODILE HUNTER, and to this end the Irwins are successful.

Steve Irwin starts out the book talking about his childhood and his initiation into the world of herpetology. Irwin's prose (apparently not ghostwritten) is as agreeable as the man's televised personality. Occasionally the abundance of exclamation points will get a little tiresome, but part of Irwin's charm is his enthusiasm for his work, a large part of which involves capturing wild crocodiles for relocation. These stories are fascinating, as Irwin uses decidedly low-tech methods to do his work, including physically wrestling massive crocodiles to a standstill.

Longtime CROCODILE HUNTER television fans will recognize some, if not all, of Steve's stories, as they've appeared in various shows over the years. Likewise, when Terri Irwin takes over the narrative about halfway through the book, the stories she tells have also gotten the documentary treatment. But even familiar stories can be interesting when retold with new detail, and being about to get inside the heads of the Irwins is a nice bonus.

THE CROCODILE HUNTER grows more personal as the book goes on. Readers are treated to an extended tale of how Steve and Terri met, courted and started a family. This, in turn, leads into a chapter on the Irwins' first child, daughter Bindi. Photographs abound throughout THE CROCODILE HUNTER, so by the time the reader gets to this point, it's as though friends eager to catch up have treated him or her to a long talk.

It's hard to avoid having some of Steve and Terri Irwin's enthusiasm for wildlife conservation and education rub off. Granted, everyone is the hero of his or her life story, but both the Irwin's seem so genuine in their passion and eagerness to share that the book, though slight, has a more powerful effect than one would expect. Even after hearing about the dangers of the Australian Outback, the world's most venomous snakes and, of course, crocodiles as big as Volkswagen Beetles, the lure of the Crocodile Hunter's passion is nigh-irresistible.

As entertaining as it is, though, THE CROCODILE HUNTER is too short. But Steve and Terri Irwin were probably too busy having new adventures to write anything longer.

adventurers tend not to be introspective
disappointing. a short work. steve's life is presented in little more than outline depth. while atriculate on tv, doesn't transfer to the written page.
one gets the impression this was written quickly. apparently afraid they're 15 minutes of fame will fade and trying to cash in while still can.
what this subject needs is a third person to ask the in-depth questions that might give some real insight into this passionate environalist, biologist, risk-taker (his own attempts amount to repeated statements of how much he loves his mum).

The Croc Hunter Book
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Teri Irwin at their Zoo last year at her book signing.
I was in Austrailia for the month in December with my family we even stood at the Glass House Mountian Beerwah Motel which is were she staid when she first met him, it's mentioned in the book,she is just as amazing as her Best Mate!
The book really gives you a sense of how they care about conservation and wild life and each other you can feel thier passion. I highly recommend this book to any fan of the Croc Hunter and if you ever get a chance go vist the Zoo T.V. doesn't do it justice.Austrailia is an amazing Country I liked it so much I bought some property and can't wait to go back.