“By way of Pete’s engaging storytelling, Rafts, Racoons, and Revelations – Growing Up on a Great Lake thoughtfully chronicles experiences gained, and lessons learned while growing up on the shores of northern Lake Huron. Pete has a gift for learning through life experiences and then teaching through the stories that those experiences inspire. Following Griffin as he catches mayflies, starts a first job, and guides a fishing adventure, I found myself immersed in the stories and inspired to apply Pete’s values of learning and teaching to my own life.”
— Kevin St. Onge, STEM Educator
“Reading Pete Griffin’s Rafts, Racoons and Revelations: Growing Up on a Great Lake feels like a bracing dip into the waters he describes so vividly. He brings an adult sensibility and understanding to the mishaps and enthusiasms of his youth. I’m sure glad he survived all his adventures so he could pull them together in this captivating book! Whether helping his mother-in-law land a King Salmon or setting sail with his sister Terrie on a raft built for two, Pete’s love for the people and places who formed him shines in every story. It’s a heartfelt tribute to hard-working, thoroughly human people living in a wild and wonderful place.”
— Anne Rutherford, Storyteller, Teaching Artist, Author
“In Rafts, Raccoons, and Revelations, self-deprecating naturalist Pete Griffin takes us through his free-range youth with aplomb, respectfully handling sometimes dire situations with humor and humanity. While young Pete is given chances to make bad decisions, his family, both familial and acquainted, are always close by to guide him through challenges. This book lets us follow Mr. Griffin through life’s trek as he navigates the natural and interpersonal world. We may not recognize the situations, but we connect to the lessons. I laughed, almost cried.”
— Norm Brecke, Storyteller, Teacher, Author
“Pete Griffin’s newest book is full of tales of his growing up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula--love letters to the people who shaped him as a naturalist, biologist, friend, son, husband, and storyteller. From the lakeshore towns of Cedarville and Hessel to the king salmon-laden waters of Alaska, Griffin throws out his lines and hooks us, reeling us in—sometimes slowly, sometimes swiftly—until we lie flopping at his feet in stunned appreciation and joy. Secrets are kept and revealed, and the heart is laid open in all its complexity, humor, and humanity. Take this book down to the dock with you, sit with your feet in the water, and let Pete Griffin instruct you how, as Thoreau said, to go to the wilderness (of trees and water and love) ‘as a hungry man to a crust of bread.’”
— Martin Achatz, two-time Poet Laureate of the Upper Peninsula