Kate McKinnon Unearths All The Weird And Wonderful Inspirations Behind Her Debut Middle Grade Novel

We talk with Kate McKinnon about why she wants kids to get outdoors after reading her book.

As a young girl, actor and comedian Kate McKinnon loved nothing more than immersing herself in nature –finding toads, collecting bugs, and having innocent, mischievous adventures around her town.

With her debut novel, The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, a middle grade book about the adventures of three quirky sisters and a lone mad scientist–McKinnon hopes to inspire that same zeal for the outdoors among 8 to 12-year-old readers.

"I wanted to encourage young people to get out and look at a worm…and get in the mud. And appreciate the majesty of the natural world," McKinnon tells Parents .

The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette, released on October 1, is both an ode to McKinnon's nature-filled childhood and a book filled with deeply meaningful messages of environmentalism , community involvement , and embracing your true (and weird) self .

About the Porch Sisters and Millicent Quibb

Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, a division of Hachette Book Group, The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette introduces the world to the Porch Sisters–Gertrude, Eugenia, and Dee-Dee–and a mad scientist named Millicent Quibb.

The Porch sisters live in the fictitious (and snooty) town of Antiquarium, where they're required to attend etiquette school–just one of the places they don't feel they belong. Another is with their adoptive family, which is made up of an uptight aunt, a materialistic uncle, and seven snide cousins. The are instead far more interested in machines and well…slugs.

The adventure begins when the Porch sisters are expelled from etiquette school and land in a mysterious new school where they fall under the tutelage of the infamous Millicent Quibb—a mad scientist with worms in her hair and oysters in her bathtub.

And so the story goes, filled with all manner of quirky and hysterical, including a bus that's powered by gerbils, a dean of students who's a hermit crab, and a bold mission to save the town of Antiquarium from an evil cabal of nefarious mad scientists.

Inspiration Behind the Characters

The characters in this colorful world were inspired by individuals who inhabited McKinnon's own childhood, including her parents and teachers. The three main characters Gertrude, Eugenia, and Dee-Dee, meanwhile represent a facet of McKinnon herself as a child.

"All three of these girls are a part of me," says McKinnon. "Dee Dee loves machines and she is kind of dreamy and off in her own world and has this Buddhist sense of calm about her. And that is part of me. Though definitely not all. Eugenia is brassy and sarcastic and very driven and Capricorn-y. That is me as well. Gertrude is the protagonist. She is in love with animals and just wants to help people, but feels shy and unsure of herself. That is definitely me."

And then there's Millicent Quibb, a larger-than-life character who McKinnon says is an amalgam of her parents, Laura Campbell and Michael Thomas Berthold. McKinnon describes her parents as iconoclasts in "their own friendly way." And much like Millicent Quibb, who really sees and understands the Porch sisters, McKinnon's own parents always encouraged her to be authentic.

"My parents encouraged me at every turn to pursue my interests–however esoteric–and acquire pets, no matter how esoteric. And to wear outfits to school, no matter how esoteric," explains McKinnon. "I think they saw a little artist in me who liked to experiment with science and with the world, and they encouraged that."

A Dozen Years Late and Right On Time

McKinnon's book is a labor of love that she initially began 12 years ago. She was on her way to completing it when a little career opportunity came along in 2012 called Saturday Night Live.

In addition to spending a decade on the iconic late-night show, McKinnon endeared herself to audiences with turns in 2016's Ghostbusters and as the scene-stealing "Weird Barbie" in Greta Gerwig's runaway summer 2023 hit Barbie . Through it all, however, McKinnon's book was never far from her mind.

"Saturday Night Live was very all-consuming, but whenever I had any time off I would work on it," says the acclaimed comedic actor. "And then I would have to go back and do my job. Then, I left SNL after 10 years. And about two years ago, I found myself with a ton of time on my hands and I thought 'Now’s the time. Let’s see if I can finish writing this.' "

Despite the fact that she began the book long ago, the themes it tackles, couldn't be more timely. During an era when children are consumed with technology, whether it's smartphones, iPads or Xboxes, McKinnon hopes to reignite a love of nature.

"I was so engaged with nature, with the community I lived in. It pains me to a point I could just start crying right now [because that's] not the experience of children today because of technology," says McKinnon, who hopes that an appreciation for nature among young readers will in turn inspire more than a few to become environmentalists in the future.

On another level, McKinnon's book aims to encourage a sense of justice, perhaps leading to community involvement or activism.

"The most important trait of [the Porch sisters] is that they want to help," continues McKinnon. "They want to help a town that doesn’t necessarily love them in return. A town where they don’t fit in. But they have this strong sense of justice and duty. They’re little activists, really. And it’s out of a love for their community that they do what they do and go on the adventure that they go on."

Weird is Wonderful

There's still one additional message McKinnon delivers through her book that's especially meaningful for kids as they navigate the particularly challenging years of adolescence: Weird is what makes you wonderful.

The characters and storyline in The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science are meant to empower young readers to feel comfortable being their authentic selves.

"It is my earnest belief that we don’t evolve as individuals, or as a society, if people are discouraged from being their authentic selves and growing in the direction [they're compelled to]," says McKinnon.

Through an increasingly prolific career, McKinnon continues to be compelled to spread the message of embracing who you truly are–and her book is just her latest vehicle.

"Everything I’ve tried to do in my career [was a way of giving] a private wink to younger people and to say ‘Hey, I see you’ and ‘Keep going’ and ‘You’re doing fine,’"says McKinnon.

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Read the original article on Parents .