My afternoon at Illinois Tech's Hermann Hall started off with a hearty welcome by speaker Kate McKinnon to young readers. She was sure to bring them into the realms of her middle-grade fiction series: the town of Antiquarium and the Purple Pearl Hotel. “I think everyone who's 12 deserves a hug and a medal,” McKinnon added to her welcome.
“I always wanted to work in the middle grade genre...it's my favorite genre,” shared McKinnon. McKinnon also commented on how the most fun part of writing the second book in the Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science series was imagining and expanding the mythology of the first book (The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, 2024). “I rented the movie of this world in my head so many times I wanted to share it with people and see if they liked it too.” McKinnon was interviewed by Matt Rodrigues, NBC host and producer, during a Chicago Humanities Festival event.
An Oddball Childhood
McKinnon was a fan of many things as a child that inspired her writing, including the sea, her family, Pippi Longstocking, and her teacher Ms. Patterson.
“I've always been obsessed with the sea You look at a clam and go, what? This is an animal?” McKinnon (partially) joked. How much did McKinnon love the sea? She used to order linguini with clams, keep the shells, put the shells in her bathtub, and then get in the tub. This love of the sea, and a particularly memorable childhood trip to a lakeside hotel, helped inspire McKinnon’s newest book, Secrets of the Purple Pearl. In this second book, the main characters—the three Porch sisters—find themselves at the Purple Pearl Hotel and on a quest to stop the Krenetics Research Association (KRA). The KRA is a nefarious group of mad scientists who want to obtain the mysterious powers of the legendary Purple Pearl.
Her parents and sister were major inspirations in McKinnon’s life as well. She describes both of her parents as iconoclasts while highlighting her father’s work as a solar architect. McKinnon was sure to bring up the importance of her relationship with her younger sister—whom McKinnon described as her “best friend.” In many ways, McKinnon and her sister were similar, “We came out doing voices...it was a sketch comedy house.” Since she sought to celebrate sisterhood, it was only natural for McKinnon’s main characters to be sisters. And why were there three sisters? “In comedy, stuff happens in threes, so I knew there had to be three sisters.”
As a child, McKinnon loved Pippi Longstocking so much, in fact, that she went to school with pipe cleaners in her hair to imitate Pippi’s upturned locks. “I loved how weird she was,” McKinnon said, but added that she also loved how accusations of Pippi’s weirdness washed off Pippi like water off of a duck’s back.
In addition to her family and her fictional heroes, McKinnon also highlighted the importance of teachers in her life, in particular Ms. Patterson. Ms. Patterson let McKinnon and her friends sing and play the piano during recess, “ we didn't want to be out there with the football” (not that there’s anything wrong with the football). McKinnon explained that the journey of self-discovery is so much easier when you have an adult to reassure you that you're fine, and to go for it. Ms. Patterson was one of such adults for McKinnon.
Lawn Lobsters and Animal Facts
As the talk was wrapping up, McKinnon talked about the importance of joy. “Joy is important. Even when stuff is topsy-turvy out there, it never hurts to spread joy and connect,” McKinnon said. When asked what was bringing her joy lately, McKinnon talked about the animals in her yard, even the creatures she referred to as lawn lobsters (McKinnon did note that they’re probably large crayfish, but lawn lobsters seemed most apt).
Besides writing, another way McKinnon spread joy was by asking the young readers in the audience for animal facts and answering their questions. McKinnon was quick to add that she “would love it if folks got outside” after reading her books (she notes that the “mad science” in her book is a metaphor for many things, including environmentalism).
The animal facts did not disappoint, but what struck me most was how McKinnon responded to the question about what a young reader should do if they don’t have an adult who believes in them. “My advice would be to turn to a book because whoever wrote that book, wrote it for you.”
Secrets of the Purple Pearl is available at bookstores and through the publisher’s website.
Holly Smith is a communications specialist with a history in publishing and the bookstore world. Now she tackles book and literary event reviews one at a time. You can read more of her book reviews at Holly Reviews, Bookman!.
