"For seven days and seven nights, the competition raged, / The most bizarre display of Innovation ever staged, / At last the hall fell silent; every band had done its worst. / They waited now with bated breath to find out who'd come first. (Base, 1999, no pg)

What a memorable, incredible intergalactic artistic musical experience! Sprocc is a 13-year old Blippian who plays a mean splingtwanger instrument and he sets off an adventure as he enters a competition for Worst Band in the Universe. He seeks fame and fortune in the difficult cosmic music industry. The narrative unfolds in poetry with four line stanzas of rhyming couplets that are ingenious in their rhythm, rhyme, and vocabulary. The poetic devices employed are countless! The illustrations are vivid and elaborate as readers are transported throughout the universe with amazing imaginary creatures, inventions, and locales. Full of humor and twists pleasing to the juvenile reader, but also with enough vocabulary and maturity to keep them thinking. An instant classic. ( )

Jeebus. Where to start? I mean I like bad art and stuff. I own a copy of HUDSON HAWK and I even watch it occasionally. But this book (and CD) are poster childs for mediocrity.

It's not bad enough to be fun, which is bad for something called THE WORST BAND IN THE UNIVERSE. The bands in the book (and on the CD) aren't the worst.

They're just boring and mediocre. I'm trying to think that, maybe, in 20 years it will all be cool but ... no. Anyway, if you're a Graeme Base completist collector you can pick this sucker up (in 2010) for about 5 bucks (for those of you in the future, 5 bucks will buy you a caffe latte at a Starbucks).

Boring. Mediocre. Not painful (painful would be good). Pass.

Details: Book. Groups. Compact Disc with nine audio tracks (I made it through the first three - if anyone finds a hidden gem in 4-9 let me know). ( )

Out of all the Graeme Base books, this one didn't appeal to my like his other books, namely Animalia. IT has the highly detailed illustrations that he is famous for. I suspect its the story - where his other books appeal to both kids and adults, this story is quite simple and didn't my attention. ( )

The contest for the worst band in the universe is not all it is cracked up to be! What will Sprocc and his new friends do when they find themselves on the strange new plant! Graeme Base makes the story interesting with coloful wording and illustrations. This book is a 3.4 reading level. For more information about this author, parents and teachers should visit www.graemebase.com.