Three young girls are tasked with saving their town from a vicious wormThis romp from actor McKinnon introduces the three Porch girls: Gertrude, age 12 and three-quarters, Eugenia, age 12 and one-eighth, and Dee-Dee, age 11. Cared for by Aunt Desdemona and Uncle Ansel (along with their seven cousins, who are all named Lavinia), they're forced to live in a ramshackle shed at the edge of the property. In a classic turn of events, the sisters are invited to a new school run by a certain Millicent Quibb. Under Quibb's eccentric tutelage, the trio learn that the nefarious Krenetics Research Association, hoping to release their founder, Talon Sharktūth, from his vault, has bred a Kyrgalops, a vicious stone- and puppy-chomping worm, which may destroy their entire town. McKinnon's middle-grade debut is grandiosely silly, reminiscent of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events in both its sesquipedalian language and tone and in relying heavily on its bespoke lexicon, verbal gymnastics, and cheeky footnotes to deliver jokes. Interspersed throughout are bits of visual interest-poems and songs, schematics, and bits of correspondence. Though the action rockets along at a Pixy Stix–fueled pace, many questions are left unanswered or unaddressed, making this series opener exposition heavy and a bit frustrating. Still, readers will ultimately be left hopeful that subsequent volumes will offer something meatier. The illustrations cue some diversity of skin tone among the characters.Fiercely feisty and unapologetically goofy. (map, afterword, appendices)(Adventure. 8-12)

Gr 3–5— From the mind of beloved comedian McKinnon comes a madcap tale of three orphan girls who just don't fit in their turn-of-the-century town. Antiquarium is a place where all the girls wear fancy Tafeteen dresses, own a fluffy bichon frise, attend etiquette school to learn how to sit properly, and receive a silver spoon for their 10th birthdays. The Porch sisters, meanwhile, would rather be crafting inventions, cracking geodes, and caring for bats and slugs. When they get kicked out of etiquette school and wind up in a mad science school instead, the unlikely heroines must work with infamous mad scientist Millicent Quibb to foil a plot involving a secret society and a giant, rock-eating worm. McKinnon's tale is a wild ride full of footnotes, asides, and arbitrary tidbits that are never revisited, but her unique voice carries through all the while. The narrator, one G. Edwina Candlestank, is at turns conversational, dramatic, and flippant, but always engaging. Readers will also get a kick out of Millicent's strange inventions, from the Gerbilcar to the guinea pig massage chair to the Flycycle, a flying motorcycle fashioned after a housefly. VERDICT Hand this to any young student (and sci-fi fan) trying to find their place in their community.— Lindsay Loup