Hi, I'm Linda Holmes. It's NPR's Book of the Day. Jennifer DeLeon's young adult novel, Borderless, was partly inspired by controversies over zero tolerance immigration policies that separate parents from children.

In the book, Guatemalan American, author DeLeon, writes about Maya, a teenager with a good life in Guatemala, who's forced to leave for the United States and is separated from her mother.

Delione talked to here and now's Deepa Fernandez about the importance of telling an authentic story, in this case about people who leave, not because it's their dream, but because it's a necessity.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods, NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Elsewhere, we've heard about President Biden's plan to increase the U.S. presence on the border

ahead of the expiration of the Title 42 public health law, which allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants without giving them the right to seek asylum.

Title 42 is just one of the moves by the U.S. to restrict immigration over the Mexican border.

Perhaps the most notorious was the Trump administration's 2018 zero-tolerance Policy, which empowered federal authorities to separate parents from their children.

It's estimated that thousands have yet to be reunited.

The policy inspired the new novel, Bordalus.

The book centers around Maya, a young girl growing up in Guatemala with her mother.

Though her life is a happy one, circumstances will force her to head to the U.S. border.

Guatemalan American author Jennifer De Leon is the author of Borderless, written for a young adult audience,

though this adult really loved it. And she joins us in the

WBUR studios. Welcome, Jennifer. Thank you so much for having me. Jennifer, I want to start with

what I loved most about your book. And that's the fact that your main character, a working

class teenager, Maya, had a life in Guatemala that was full and rich,

though not without struggles, but her struggles were also not unlike struggles of teens anywhere.

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