Bill Cotter Books In Order

Publication Order of Don't Push the Button Books

Publication Order of Picture Books

Bill Cotter
Bill Cotter was a pre-K music and art teacher for several years in New York City before he made books for kids.

He lives in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, where he spends his days playing music, drawing, and hanging out with Button, his cat.

Bill’s original plan was to do more “grown up” or serious work. His dream was to get paid for doing a New Yorker cover, create the cover art for a band’s new album, possibly do some storyboarding for the movies or concept art for video games, however his focus shifted after he took his first internship at a magazine.

His two great obsessions have always been music and art. After he graduated college and moved to New York, and got the idea that the place those two things converged would be in Rolling Stone Magazine’s art department. For six months he learned the ins and outs of every visual component to the magazine, yet learned it wasn’t for him.

He got hired to do the illustration for an issue’s album review was a “grown up” holy grail sort of situation, yet he also saw how unimportant the illustration was for the overall magazine, and he saw that chances for illustration work were shrinking. This is where he decided to whole-heartedly pursue a career in children’s books where he figured there’d be a much better shot at making a living.

Chris Van Allsburg’s work inspired Bill to become an illustrator. He used to be obsessed with Chris’s masterful illustrations in “Jumanji” and ‘’The Polar Express”. He is also a huge “Calvin and Hobbes” fan and loves Roald Dahl’s books.

While he taught music and art to preschoolers, he quickly realized that reading aloud to the kids was a fantastic way to learn their likes and dislikes when it comes to different kinds of children’s literature.

Bill noticed that it is tough for a toddler to sit still for a story, but saw that the more interactive a book was, the more the little readers would become engaged. This was also around the same time that iPads were becoming mainstream, so it just made sense to create interactive books solely as a way to compete with the other media which are a part of a child’s everyday life.

He’s able to create so many versions of the story because he spends a lot of his time playing music, so it’s a lot like writing a blues song. It primarily has the same structure as every other blues song before it, yet all the possibilities of what you can apply to this framework is endless.

Button gave him a great framework to work off of, and he had a ton of fun riffing off it. It may not be nearly as artistically fulfilling as creating something totally new from scratch, however if he can get more kids to read more and grow up to be more literate adults, then that is really the one and only important thing.

He went to art school and just thought of himself as an illustrator for so many years, but hit a point where he would just identify as a writer that illustrates. Being an author is a lot like an architect. You make up this initial concept and make the blueprints for the whole project. Illustrating is much more like the construction, building the structure one brick at a time from the ground floor.

At the end of it all, after all of the countless sketches, the rewrites, and navigating the ins and outs of the retailers and the publishers, hearing a child laugh as they read one of his books is the most obvious sign that Bill’s bridged the gap between concept and the final product. His whole goal is for them to experience the book as though it were being created for them spontaneously right there on the spot.

“Don’t Push the Button!” is the first picture book in the “Don’t Push the Button!” series and was released in 2013. There is just one rule in Larry’s book: do not push the button. Seriously, do not even think about it.

Even if it does look sorta nice, you must never ever push this button. Who knows what would even happen?

Okay, quick. Nobody is looking, push that button. Uh, oh.

“Don’t Touch This Book!” is the second picture book in the “Don’t Push the Button!” series and was released in 2013. Larry the lovable monster from the hit children’s book “Don’t Push the Button!” has returned with another interactive, hilarious adventure!

You may be thinking that this is a pretty cool looking book. But, hey. Do not touch this book!. Do not even try it, alright bub? Alright, alright. You can touch, just be sure you use just one finger.

Whoa, how did you even do that?

Larry might be a lovable monster, but he’s got a bit of trouble with sharing. It is all up to you to show him how it’s all done!

“Don’t Push the Button! A Halloween Treat” is a picture book in the “Don’t Push the Button!” series and was released in 2018. Go trick-or-treating with Larry in this hilarious companion to “Don’t Push the Button!”

Everybody knows that trick-or-treating is the absolute best part of Halloween. However that one house which looks sorta scary. Wait, why would you even walk toward that creepy house?! Whatever you do, do NOT ring their doorbell!

“Five Little Monsters Jumping on the Bed” is a picture book in the “Don’t Push the Button!” series and was released in 2020. A brand new take on the classic rhyme of “Five Little Monkeys”! Larry has returned. And this time around he’s enlisted his monster buddies to cause monster mayhem!

Prompts to “tickle”, “press”, and “pet” each of the monsters make this a fun, interactive story which little ones are sure to enjoy.

“Beard in a Box” is a picture book that was released in 2016. One young boy longs to have a beard just like Dad’s, and when he finds this hair-growth product called Beard in a Box, he just has to have it! He rips the package open, plants the beard seeds, and he waits.

And waits.

And waits.

Hilarious art and a feel-good ending make this the perfect Father’s Day gift for clean-shaven and bearded up readers alike!