Championship: (9) Cars and Trucks From A To Z vs. (16) Disney Babies 1 To 10

One contender will cut down the nets!

Gearing Up For The Finale

The Finale is tonight! Here's your updated brackets so you can see where we've come from!

Round 5: (14) First Book of Sushi vs. (16) Disney Babies 1 To 10

And, like that, Round 5 is over.

Round 5: (9) Cars and Trucks From A To Z vs. (13) A To Z

Starting of Round 5 with another alphabet battle!

Moving on to Round 5

Round 5 starts up Thursday, so here's the updated brackets with our Final Four.



See you back on Thursday.

Round 4: (7) Jungle Book vs. (16) Disney Babies 1 To 10

Let's wrap up Round 4 with some inevitability.

Round 4: (9) Numbers Colors Shapes vs. (14) First Book of Sushi

Exactly how hungry is H. tonight? Find out!

Round 4: (10) Frankenstein vs. (13) A To Z

The undead take their chances with the fairly lively.

Round 4: (7) Superheroes Busy Bodies vs. (9) Cars and Trucks From A To Z

Let's get Round 4 kicked off right.

A Brief Interlude...

Round 4 starts up tonight. I forgot to compile stats after Round 2, and with the break between 3 and 4 only being a day, I ran out of time to do it for 3, but I am at least here to drop of your updated brackets. Enjoy!

Round 3: (3) Happy Hippo, Angry Duck vs. (7) Jungle Book

A veritable menagerie awaits.

Round 3: (4) Eek! Halloween vs. (16) Disney Babies 1 To 10

A flock of frightened chickens versus...whatever you call a large group of babies.

Round 3: (10) Eyes, Nose, Fingers & Toes vs. (14) First Book of Sushi

An upsetter will become the upset!

Round 3: (9) Numbers Colors Shapes vs. (12) On The Night You Were Born

Words or music?

Round 3: (10) Frankenstein vs. (11) Farm Numbers

A big monster versus a dark horse.

Round 3: (1) Dancing Feet vs. (13) A To Z

Can the last 1 seed win out?

Round 3: (6) Superhero ABC 123 vs. (7) Superhero Busy Bodies

Superheroes always have to fight when they first meet, you know.

Round 3: (4) Things That Go vs. (9) Cars and Trucks From A To Z

Demolition Derby time!

Pardon The Interruption...

You may have remembered that there was supposed to be a new match-up to start Round 3 on Monday. You may have also noticed that it didn't happen.

As it turns out, when you have a toddler, things tend to go missing around your house. Keys, shoes, contenders for very important tournaments. You know, the usual.

We've managed to round up the books that went missing, so we'll be picking back up tonight with a new match-up for tomorrow. Thanks to a little added cushion between rounds, we'll still be able to wrap it all up on May 20th.

Updated brackets with Round 3 match-ups are below!

Round 2: (3) Happy Hippo, Angry Duck vs. (11) Batman Shapes

Moods versus shapes, and only one concept can win!

Round 2: (2) Global Baby Boys vs. (7) Jungle Book

The baby or the tiger?

Round 2: (4) Eek! Halloween vs. (12) Kittens

Does H. love kittens more than he loves being a Goth Baby?

Round 2: (8) Baby Signs vs. (16) Disney Babies 1 To 10

General Ennui vs. Collective Shrugging!

Round 2: (6) Even Superheroes Sleep vs. (14) First Book of Sushi

Superheroes vs. superfoods (sushi is a superfood, right?)

Round 2: (2) Tubby Bañito vs. (7) Eyes, Nose, Fingers and Toes

INTRO

Round 2: (12) On The Night You Were Born vs. (13) Peekaboo With Spotty Dog

Can a big Round 1 upset pull it off again?

Round 2: (1) Good Night Gorilla vs. (9) Numbers Colors Shapes

We're at the halfway point of Round 2!

Round 2: (3) First 100 Trucks vs. (11) Farm Numbers

Can a tractor beat a truck?

Round 2: (10) Frankenstein vs. (15) Dracula

I've got your Dark Universe right here.

Round 2: (13) A to Z vs. (12) My First Book of Superpowers

Can alphabetical animals stop a book more powerful than a locomotive?

Round 2: (1) Dancing Feet vs. (9) Three Little Kittens

Is it time for a dance party or laundry? Find out!

Round 2: (3) ABC Is For Circus vs. (6) Superhero ABC 123

Let the alphabet wars begin.

Round 2: (7) Superheroes Busy Bodies vs. (15) Moby Dick

Super powers versus a super big fish!

Round 2: (4) Things That Go vs. (12) Bob

Cool cars combat Christmas carols

Round 2: (9) Cars and Trucks From A To Z vs. (16) Moo, Baa, La La La

Let's get Round 2 started.

Round 1 Stats and Analysis

Now that we've wrapped up all 32 match-ups for Round 1, I thought it might be interesting to look at the stats and see where things stand.

Let's start off with how all of the seeds fared.

To recap, seeds 1 thru 4 were the only ones that were actually ranked based on what appeared to be H's favorites prior to the start of the tournament. 5 thru 16 were just randomized from the rest of the list.

Seed 1: Two Seed 1 books have advanced - Dancing Feet and Good Night Gorilla.
Seed 2: Two Seed 2 books have advanced - Tubby Bañito and Global Baby Boys.
Seed 3: Three Seed 3 books have advanced - ABC is for Circus, First 100 Trucks, and Happy Hippo, Angry Duck.
Seed 4: Two Seed 4 books have advanced - Things That Go and Eek! Halloween.
Seed 5: None of the Seed 5 books advanced.
Seed 6: Two Seed 6 books have advanced - Superhero ABC 123 and Even Superheroes Sleep.
Seed 7: Three Seed 7 books have advanced - Superheroes Busy Bodies, Eyes, Nose, Fingers & Toes, and Jungle Book.
Seed 8: One Seed 8 book has advanced - Baby Signs.
Seed 9: Three Seed 9 books have advanced - Cars and Trucks From A To Z, Three Little Kittens, and Numbers Colors Shapes.
Seed 10: One Seed 10 book has advanced - Frankenstein.
Seed 11: Two Seed 11 books have advanced - Farm Numbers and Batman Shapes.
Seed 12: All four Seed 12 books have advanced - Bob, My First Book of Superpowers, On The Night You Were Born, and Kittens.
Seed 13: Two Seed 13 books have advanced - A To Z and Peekaboo With Spotty Dog.
Seed 14: One Seed 14 books has advanced - First Book of Sushi.
Seed 15: Two Seed 15 books have advanced - Moby Dick and Dracula.
Seed 16: Two Seed 16 books have advanced - Moo, Baa, La La La and Disney Babies 1 To 10.

I think the big takeaway from this is: there was pretty much no point in trying to seed these in the first place. The wins have been divided up pretty evenly across the board. Which, of course, means things could get very interesting from here on out.

Let's take a look at some series trends: Thus far, the DC Superhero books are undefeated, with five wins. Five of the nine Sandra Boynton books that entered the tournament are advancing to the second round, and four of the six BabyLit series advance as well. Only two of the four Sesame Street books will advance, and only one of the five finger puppet books.

Now, lets see how my stats are faring.

Of the 32 match-ups in the first round, I correctly predicted the outcome of 19 of them. It's better than half, so kudos to me, I guess.

Here's the updated bracket with the second round games added. For reference, it turns out that I can't count, because I had several match-ups scheduled for May 6th. This bracket also reflects the corrected and updated tournament schedule, with some additional breaks between the later rounds that I'd forgotten to add in. The champion will now be named on May 20th.

Round 1: (6) Spooky, Spooky Little Bat vs. (11) Batman Shapes

It's a Bat-danceoff!

Round 1: (3) Happy Hippo, Angry Duck vs. (14) Hickory Dickory Dock

Of mice and moods.

Round 1: (7) Jungle Book vs. (10) Sleep Baby, Safe And Snug

Wild beasts and sleepy children!

Round 1: (2) Global Baby Boys vs. (15) Big Bird's Color Game

Little babies against a Big Bird!

Round 1: (5) Sherlock Holmes vs. (12) Kittens

Spectral dog monsters against piles of adorable kitties! Who will win?

Round 1: (4) Eek! Halloween vs. (13) Peekaboo With Happy Cow

Goth Baby lit takes on the Big Three!

Round 1: (8) Baby Signs vs. (9) Hop On Pop

Language!

Round 1: (1) C is for Cthulhu vs. (16) Disney Babies 1 To 10

Unstoppable monsters from outside of space and time vs. the works of H.P. Lovecraft!

Round 1: (6) Even Superheroes Sleep vs. (11) My Friend Hello Kitty

Can sleepy superheroes win over incessant jibber jabber?