The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo is a children's book published in 1969, written by Judy Blume with illustrations by Amy Aitken. It was Blume's first published work.
It is about second-grader Freddy Dissel, a middle child who feels emotionally squashed between his older brother, Mike, and his younger sister, Ellen. He does not seem to get much attention, until he lands a role in a school play as a green kangaroo.
Judy Blume (born Judith Sussman) is an American author. She has written many novels for children and young adults which have exceeded sales of 80 million and been translated into 31 languages. Blume's novels for teenagers were among the first to tackle such controversial matters as racism (*Iggie's House*), menstruation (*Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.*), divorce (*It's Not the End of the World, Just As Long As We're Together*), bullying (*Blubber*), masturbation (*Deenie; Then Again, Maybe I Won't*) and teen sex (*Forever*), and as such have been the source of controversy over the appropriateness of such topics for her middle school audience. She is married with two children and a stepchild
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[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Blume