Memories of her life with wildlife warrior
Terri Irwin, the wife of the late Steve Irwin, will offer a close look at “The Crocodile Hunter.” She's headed to the Doylestown Bookshop for an exclusive book-signing event.
The folks at the Doylestown Bookshop are crowing over quite a coup.
Terri Irwin, the wife of the late Steve Irwin (“The Crocodile Hunter”), will sign copies of her new book, “Steve & Me,” there Nov. 6, beginning at 7 p.m.
It's her only book event in the area, and, says manager Shilough Hopwood, “we're honored and excited.”
Simon and Schuster, the book's publisher, has steered authors the bookshop's way before, but this one ... well, it has the makings of quite an evening.
“They asked us, "Could you make this happen?' We said, "You bet we can,' ” says Hopwood. “We're looking to draw a crowd worthy of the author. We've had other authors, sure — including New York Times best-sellers — but nobody quite this big. This isn't just a popular author. She's a television personality. She has celebrity status.”
Of course, the date coincides with November's general election.
“It's the only night she had open,” says Hopwood, with a trace of a sigh.
But he promises the duration of the event will be open-ended.
“We'll stay open 'til the last one has their book signed,” he says.
There's no word yet on whether Bindi Irwin, the star of the Discovery Kids Channel's “Bindi: The Jungle Girl,” and her little brother, Bob, will accompany their mother.
“We're waiting to hear on that,” says Hopwood.
For the uninitiated, here's a quick snippet of the Irwins' backstory.
When she was 27, Terri Raines, who performed wildlife rescue work in Oregon, decided to take a vacation.
It changed her life.
She traveled to Australia, and there, at a small wildlife park, she met and fell in love with Steve Irwin, a tall, blond, true force of nature.
Within a year, they were married, and she eagerly joined him in his conservation work.
The footage filmed on their crocodile-trapping honeymoon became the first episode of “The Crocodile Hunter,” and together, they began to change the world.
In “Steve & Me,” she recounts the unforgettable adventures they shared, including wrangling venomous snakes, saving deadly crocodiles from poachers and swimming among humpback whales.
A uniquely gifted naturalist, he was first and foremost a wildlife warrior dedicated to rescuing endangered animals — especially his beloved crocs — and educating everyone he could reach about the importance of conservation.
In the hit TV shows that continue to be broadcast worldwide, his enthusiasm lives on, bringing little-known and often-feared species to light as he reveals and revels in the wonders of our planet.
But a little more than a year ago, while filming off the Great Barrier Reef near Cairns, Australia, the 44-year-old Irwin was killed by a stingray. He was at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called “Ocean's Deadliest,” when he swam too close to one of the stingrays, which have a poisonous barb on their tails.
The barb went up and into his chest and poked a hole in his heart.
With grace, wit and candor, Terri portrays her husband as he really was — a devoted family man, a fervently dedicated environmentalist and a modest bloke who spoke to millions on behalf of those who could not speak for themselves.

“Steve & Me” is considered a nonstop adventure, a real-life love story and a fitting tribute to a man adored by all those whose lives he touched, written by the woman who knew — and loved — him best of all.