Reviewed by: John McCoy of the Charleston Daily Mail. 

John McCoy of the Charleston Daily Mail  wrote:

An ordinary author wouldn't be able to make a book on West Virginia's Birch River come alive.  Skip Johnson is no ordinary author.  First off, he's lived next to the river almost his entire life.  He knows its moods, its history, and the people who help to make it a special place.

He's spent countless hours researching the watershed's colorful history.  He knows about the Civil War skirmishes, the vigilante gun battles and the strange court cases.  He even knows why some of the river's pools are called "plouts."

In his fervor to research the book, Johnson walked almost every inch of the Birch's 36.6 mile length, knocking on doors and exploring the river's rich history by listening to its storytellers.  " I...was barked at by most of the dogs in three counties," he writes.

Those who read the book will hope he didn't mind.  The wear he put on his shoe leather ( and the holes the dogs put in his trouser legs) produced a rich, vibrant chronicle of interest to anyone who enjoys reading about West Virginia.

John McCoy gives it a 4 star rating.  That rating means - " Put it in your library."

Reviewed by: Herald Baughman of Charleston, WV

Herald Baughman of Charleston, WV wrote:

Wow! What a great book this is. I can't stop excitedly scanning through it to take the time to start reading it from the beginning. It is my history and much of my life. As a boy growing up at Strange Creek and later on Keener's Ridge, all of the names and places are memories, but I never knew the history of them. Now you have provided it. Further he added: Skip, you have brought a joy into my life with this book. I will be reading and rereading it for years and educating my children and grandchildren about my heritage. To say "thank you" is simply not enough. May God richly bless you.

Reviewed by: Donna Gibson of  Sutton, WV 
 
Donna Gibson of Sutton, WV wrote:

Great job Skip.  What a great book.  Being married to a "Gibson" I have shared lots of great times on Birch.  It is a wonderful place to forget about today's busy fast-paced life and just sit back, enjoy the scene and share great times with family and friends.  Skip captured the history, genealogy and outdoor life wonderfully.  I learned things that I did not know about my husband's family, their heritage and their neighbors.  I am proud to say that I am a neighbor of Skip Johnson.  And further Rob Johnson has done a GREAT job all around with his many projects associated with this book.  Neil Gentry created great graphics and layout.  Ben Gibson has wonderful pictures of the Indians.  If  I'm forgetting anyone, sorry, but the book is a great piece that I will pass onto my family for generations to come.  Thanks so much guys.

Reviewed by: Kay Vannest of Ravenswood, WV
 
Kay Vannest of Ravenswood, WV wrote:

Loved every page. But I do remember the date of the 1954 flood a little different, like July instead of October. I was 12 years old & had asked Mom if I could camp out on the front porch & at 5am, the water woke me up going around a cedar pine tree in front yard & 20 minutes later was over the porch I was sleeping on. We waded out of the house. After all of us getting out safely, I ran up on the hillside to look & saw our school house over across the river in Uncle Roy's field. That was the end of a one room school for me. Later it was built back, for the next school term the following year. Thank you so much for writing this book about my favorite river. I appreciate all the research that went into it. I enjoyed the history & knew about a lot of the folks you mentioned. I love Rob's pictures & appreciate all his effort too. I can tell he loves Birch River as much as I do. It's a fun river. I take my grandchildren once a year to Johnson's Campground at Herold. They love the river. I also try to swim at least one time during the year at the Boggs Falls. Such a fun place to swim & play in the Scooter hole above the Falls. My daughter likes to see me swim through the rock that has the hole through it. Where else in the world, could you have that kind of fun. Only "Birch River".

Reviewed by: Charlene Nottingham Kendall of Rogers, Arkansas
 
Charlene Kendall of Rogers, AR wrote:

Awesome book. Very well written. Lots of humor. It brought back many memories of my fishing trips on the Birch with my dad, a grandson of Dudley Nottingham. I can hardly wait for the next book! 

Reviewed by: Joyce Lackey of Summersville, WV
 
Joy Lackey wrote this book review for the Nicholas County Chronicle:

RIVER ON THE ROCKS - A review  By: Joyce Lackey
There’s a poem I couldn’t get out of my mind while reading this book written by Skip Johnson. It is: A NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS:  By: Langston Hughes I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I’ve known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
In Skip Johnson’s book, RIVER ON THE ROCKS, you really can judge a book by its cover.  And a stunning cover it is with a picture of hundreds of pebbles, which were rocks themselves thousands of years ago; pebbles seen through water clear as glass.  Pebbles which open magically to show a photograph of huge rocks on Birch River as it looks today.  Pebbles with stories as numerous as the stones all along the river, of which Johnson eloquently speaks.  Pictures are the story, word pictures as well as photographs so beautiful, you want to take all the people you’ve ever loved to their sites and say, “Look,” in absolute happiness and wonder.
I was only on page two when I started marking passages, some for the beauty of the writing, some for interesting facts and some that were just plain funny.  The first passage I marked was, “It is just beyond Bill Woods’ property line, between him and Larry Riffle, where the two small hollows come together.  The single rivulet, thus formed, runs through Bill’s yard.  At his property line are four stately white oak trees that, in their way, announce the origin of Birch.  When he took me to the hallowed ground, our presence was announced by the joyous barking of his son Roy’s coon dogs.”
Many readers of The Charleston Gazette will recognize Skip Johnson’s name from his sports and feature writing.  I guess I must be prejudiced or ignorant.  Or both.  It was a pleasant surprise to find poetry in a book by a sports writer.
There are stories of adventure, the beginnings of towns, present-day mountaineers and frontiersmen of olden times.  Did you know that Daniel Boone stayed along the river and hunted bear in this very area?  I didn’t.  There’s plenty I didn’t know about the river, which runs so close by.  It’s also a book about the origins of towns, their names and colorful histories.  Under the “just plain funny” heading -- so funny that I had to lie my head back against the couch and laugh at times.  I’d then have to tell my husband, “Listen to this.  It says that the slogan of the old Strouds Creek & Muddlety Railroad was, Linking Muddlety With the World."  Now it’s amusing but upon considering how isolated the area around Birch River was in the early 1900’s it was a pretty apt slogan.  And that leads to the adventure part, where doctors were by necessity, circuit riders, tending to the sick and delivering babies before there were hospitals just down the road.
There are the anecdotes explaining how industry and entrepreneurial spirit turned some of the areas into boomtowns complete with colorful histories of restaurants and other businesses with curiously delightful names.  And reasons behind the names.
Then there are the fishing stories.  My dad, who believed in the lessons a person could learn from a river, would have adored this book.  And as fishermen know, many of these tales can be hilarious and grow grander with each telling.
For historians, there are civil war heroes and heroines to read about with directions of how to get to the scene of the battles.  That may be the best part of all, the directions.  Because on the way to these near places with familiar sounding names, is the scenery.  I’m convinced that Skip Johnson is one of the best descriptive writers of scenery that I’ve read.  And it’s the arresting kind of description which makes you feel you’re standing right on Devil’s Backbone, looking out at the high ridges and deep, narrow valleys.  You are there.
Reviewed by: Juanita Brown of Vero Beach, Florida   Juanita Brown of Vero Beach, Florida wrote: You must have lots of patience to put a book like this together.  I really enjoyed reading it.  I ran across names of people whom I used to know.  I know of or had heard of many of the people and places you mention from the head to the mouth of Birch River.  I want to say a special "thanks" for Chapter 6 which you devoted to the Cora Brown Family.  Because of this, my mother will be remembered long after all of her children are gone.  You have given her a pleasant memory for all who knew where we lived for most of our lives.
Reviewed by: Billy Spinks of Muddelty, WV   Billy Spinks - a Nicholas County Deputy Sheriiff wrote: I just finished the book tonight. Although I'm not that old, (29) it brought back some memories of camping along Birch at the Blue Hole and swimming at various locations along the river. I also have attended Powell's (I've also argued over the spelling) Mountain Baptist Church since 1977 and was baptized at the Bubbie Hole. Birch River will always be a big part of my life and how better to memorialize it than by writing a book. Great job!!! I couldn't put it down, read it in only 1 1/2 days.