A Goodreads user asked Jessica McHugh:

What was the inspiration for THE GREEN KANGAROOS?

Jessica McHugh The original inspiration for The Green Kangaroos came from my personal experience living with an addict in my family. It was a rough time all around dealing with this family member's lying, thievery, and all around dickishness to the people who loved and only wanted to help him. He was also the middle child, so we definitely had a copy of Judy Blume's "The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo" in the house growing up.

After doing some research, I discovered many middle children end up with emotional issues of some sort. Not all, of course, but enough that I thought it a relevant issue for discussion.

As I've had the basic idea for this novel in mind since 2007, the bizarro/sci-fi/futuristic element took me by surprise. I started outlining without a direction in mind, and it all just fell into place before NaNoWriMo 2012 started. Then I just let my mind go crazy during the month, and I was quite pleased with what poured out.

But it all started with an addict I knew and loved. And because I didn't want to punish him by writing this book, I decided I would play him (iow, write in 1st person POV). Of course Perry Samson is much, much worse than the inspiring family member, which I believe was due to my inner addict taking over. ;)

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