Kate McKinnon is an award-winning performer and writer who is celebrated globally for her work in film and television. Young readers will recognize her voice role as "Ms. Frizzle" in The Magic School Bus Rides Again for Netflix. She recently played "Weird Barbie" in Greta Gerwig's worldwide blockbuster hit, Barbie. The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science is her debut novel, and she recently talked about it with Daryl Maxwell for the LAPL Blog.
What was your inspiration for The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science?
I really loved science when I was in elementary school. I had an erector set, which was my best friend. Me and a group of girls were in a club called the Honeysuckle Eaters Club at recess. While the other kids were playing basketball, we sat in a corner by the chain link fence and sucked the suckle out of honeysuckle to try to understand the correlation between the color of the flower and the sweetness of the juice contained therein.
Basically that kind of stuff. So I wanted to write about girls who don't fit in and a mentor who doesn't fit in either, who helps them to understand that they actually do have a lot to offer the world.
What was your favorite book when you were a child?
I loved nonfiction—I still do. There was a book about how to rescue and rehabilitate wounded wild animals that I just checked out over and over again. Same with another one about how to build simple electrical circuits. As for fiction, I love books that purported to be real—The Witches by Roald Dahl, The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill. I was thrilled by even the insinuation that some part of it might be real—I really wanted to recreate that thrill for readers with my own book.
Was there a book you felt you needed to hide from your parents?
My mother is a very progressive social worker who gave me many books about puberty, so no, no need to hide anything.
Is there a book you've faked reading?
We had to read To the Lighthouse in college, and I didn't. I read the first paragraph, felt intimidated, and stopped.
Can you name a book for which you are an evangelist (and you think everyone should read)?
There is a middle grade series called Wise Child by Monica Furlong. And it is about an odd little girl who's adopted spiritually and physically by a mentor who happens also to be a witch—the kind of witch that uses herbs to heal, that sort of thing—and the witch teaches her about the marvels of the natural world.
I guess I have a type.
Is there a book you would most want to read again for the first time?
David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day. I love laughing so hard that I can't breathe, and it only happened to me once when I was reading a book, and it was that one.
