When a video of a woman speaking out against the book Out of Darkness at a school board meeting went viral, author Ashley Hope Pérez responded with a video of her own.

The video that went viral shows parent Kara Bell at a school board meeting in Austin, TX, presenting her concerns about a particular passage in Pérez’s book. The book in question recounts the 1937 school explosion in New London, TX, while focusing on the fictional love story between a Mexican American teenage girl and an African American boy. “With that real-life tragedy as a starting point, Pérez adds greater volatility with race, class, and family dysfunction, by introducing a love story between two teens from different worlds in a tiny community where nothing remains hidden for long,” says the SLJ review. Out of Darkness was the recipient of the 2016 Printz Honor.

Pérez, in her brief video, intersperses shouted comments from Bell with calm responses. When Bell voices concern about a particular phrase used in the text, Pérez responds, “So, it seems to me that the author’s using this coarse language for effect. You know, at this time men did sometimes treat women like sexual objects. I think that the author’s illustrating that, not endorsing it.”

The recent banning of books and other materials in the Central York (PA) School District is indicative of the uptick of censorship and challenges of books with BIPOC characters and by authors of marginalized descent. Though the ban in Central York was eventually reversed, some school districts continue to target works by non-white authors.

At the end of her video, Pérez shares, “I didn’t write Out of Darkness for Kara. I wrote it for brave, big-hearted readers ready to face some painful aspects of our country’s history. I believe it should be available in libraries that serve teenagers, along with the other young adult books that have recently been banned in Central Texas.”