I’m happy to introduce you to Liam Maher a Guardian Angel Author who lives in Ireland.
Liam Maher grew up in the beautiful gardens of Dromoland Castle in County Clare, Ireland. This and the surrounding picturesque countryside coupled with the old beliefs during his boyhood days of leprechauns, ghosts and fairies were to inspire his children’s stories that were to come in later life and originally written for his grandchildren.
As I told Liam in our correspondence, he seems to have led a charmed life. No wonder he writes about Leprechauns and Lucky Pigs.
Liam spends his time gardening, keeping fit, entertaining his grandchildren and searching for leprechauns.
Liam has had three children’s illustrated books published with Reader’s Eden, well received by reviewers, one of which ‘Blue Paint’ received the prestigious EPPIE Award nomination.
His two recently published picture books with GAP are The Golden Daffodils and Mr. Topper the Lucky Potbellied Pig.
Mr. Topper the Lucky Potbellied Pig is illustrated by Vanda Lavar, showing Mr. Topper as a beautiful, sweet-looking pig, wearing a handsome red scarf.
As Janet Ann Collins observed in her review of the book, Mr. Topper the Lucky Potbellied Pig has the flavor of a folk tale, with the narrator sometimes speaking casually to the reader.
Well, at first it doesn’t seem as if Mr. Topper is lucky. He is caught in a blizzard with no owner, no food, and no shelter. He goes in search of “Someone who will pet and pamper me, and feed me whenever I go Oink! Oink!” This is the kind of refrain children love to join in when a story is read to them and it is repeated several times throughout the story. Hoping to find such a person, Mr. Topper has the idea to pass himself off as a lucky pig.
The first two people Mr. Topper approaches, a billionaire man and a billionaire woman, are selfish and stingy. The man reminds me of the villains in the old melodrama movies; I can fairly see him twirling his mustache. The woman looks much nicer than she is. She is more concerned about keeping her carpets clean than in helping a cold and hungry creature.
Finally Mr. Topper finds a kind woodcutter who takes him in. Their life together is happy until the woodcutter loses his job. And to beat all, the pig gets a tooth ache and has to go to the animal dentist to have his tooth pulled.
Will Mr. Topper be able to come through on his promise of bringing good luck to his human friend?
Now — it appears that Mr. Topper is more clever than lucky — unless you can call getting a tooth ache lucky. He uses his brains to help the woodcutter out of his difficulties.
The ending is fun and very satisfying. Readers 4-8 (especially those who have lost a tooth) will enjoy the surprise ending.
The book is available through these venues:
Guardian Angel Publishing Bookstore and Amazon.com
Disclaimer: I purchased a PDF copy of the book and I have been uninfluenced in my opinion of the story.
There's nothing wrong with me a little ice cream won't fix. 
