The non-fiction book has been published in eight languages, and is sold in both English and Spanish editions in the United States.

[2] The book was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles written in 2002 by Sonia Nazario for the Los Angeles Times.

[6] The series of Los Angeles Times articles that was the genesis of the book won more than 20 journalism awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.

[14] Facing History & Ourselves developed a six-week unit teaching guide to accompany the young adult version of the book.

In 2019, a record number of unaccompanied minors were detained at the southern border of the U.S.[16] Nazario has been on the board of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) Archived 2019-11-07 at the Wayback Machine since its inception.

[17] On July 17, 2014, she testified before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the violence children were fleeing in Central America, in places like Enrique's former neighborhood on Honduras.

Her articles focus on immigration, asylum, Central America and Mexico, often revisiting Enrique's neighborhood in Honduras for further reporting.