The picture book world goes in and out of print so quickly, it might be hard to find these particular books, but they might give you some ideas for searching your local library catalog. The library is your best friend for these studies because many of the books you'll read once and then return. Every so often, you'll find one that speaks to the heart of your family; then you know you've found one worth owning. If you are willing to wait, I found PaperBackSwap.com to be invaluable in building our picture book library.
Some years, I scheduled these books once, twice, or three times a week and we always read them. Other years, I had lots of picture book lists going for the year and would put a week's selection in a picture book basket from which we'd pull books when it was time to read the picture book for the day.
As the years go by, younger children with older siblings will naturally be exposed to more literature and other subjects than an oldest child is. So the family plans will adapt and change. In our case, the picture book focus for our Around the World readings would often reflect what an older brother or sister was reading. We would also read fewer picture books as a family; instead, an older brother or sister would read to a younger one. Seeing all these lists in one place, you might be able to get a feeling for how the same kind of study can be adapted to fit a family where they are in age and where they are in family life.
2011-2012 School Year
second grade / Level 1A Year 1, preschool / Prep
This year I focused on a different continent each term using lots of library books. The goal was not to learn any specific geography, but just to introduce my young ones to people from all over the world.
2012-2013 School Year
third grade / Level 1A Year 2, kindergarten / Prep
My goal this year was to coordinate with First Son's Extreme Environments reading, though we swapped Europe for Africa since we read books set in Africa the year before. My third grader sometimes read these books aloud to the girls.
2013-2014 School Year
fourth grade / Level 2 Year 1, first grade / Level 1B, preschool / Prep
We focused the entire year on Central and South America to coordinate with the Level 2 Year 1 Americas focus in People and Places. My fourth grader generally didn't read these aloud to the girls nor did he really listen while I read them, but they were strewed in case he was interested.
2014-2015 School Year
fifth grade / Level 2 Year 2, second grade / Level 1A Year 1, kindergarten / Prep
We focused the entire year on Africa to coordinate with the Level 2 Year 2 Africa focus in People and Places. Again, my fifth grader didn't generally read them aloud or listen in, but they were floating around the house during his study.
2015-2016 School Year
sixth grade / Level 3 Year 1, third grade / Level 1A Year 2, first grade / Level 1B, preschool / Prep
2016-2017 School Year
seventh grade / Level 3 Year 2, fourth grade / Level 2 Year 1, third grade / Level 1A Year 1, kindergarten / Prep
Our last year of Reading Around the World in Picture Books...
Books I Found Later
These are books I discovered as we continued to read widely at our library, but too late to include in an "official" reading around the work study.
China
Himalayas
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