Adavosertib and Local Radiation Therapy in Treating Children With Newly Diagnosed Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas

Exclusion Criteria

• •* Enrollment must be no later than 28 days after the date of radiographic diagnosis or surgery, whichever is the later date
• •Patients must have a body surface area \>= 0.35 m\^2 at the time of study enrollment
• •Karnofsky \>= 50% for patients \> 16 years of age and Lansky \>= 50 for patients =\< 16 years of age; patients who are unable to walk because of paralysis, but who are up in a wheelchair, will be considered ambulatory for the purpose of assessing the performance score
• •Patients must not have received any prior anti-cancer therapy such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy or bone marrow transplant for the treatment of DIPG; prior dexamethasone and/or surgery are allowed
• •Peripheral absolute neutrophil count (ANC) \>= 1000/mm\^3
• •Platelet count \>= 100,000/mm\^3 (transfusion independent, defined as not receiving platelet transfusions for at least 7 days prior to enrollment)
• •Creatinine clearance or radioisotope glomerular filtration rate (GFR) \>= 70 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 or
• •A serum creatinine based on age/gender as follows:
• •* 0.8 mg/dL (3 to \< 6 years of age)
• •* 1.0 mg/dL (6 to \< 10 years of age)
• •* 1.2 mg/dL (10 to \< 13 years of age)
• •* 1.5 mg/dL (male) or 1.4 mg/dl (female) (13 to \< 16 years of age)
• •* 1.7 mg/dL (male) or 1.4 mg/dl (female) (\>= 16 years of age)
• •Bilirubin (sum of conjugated + unconjugated) =\< 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) for age
• •Serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) (alanine aminotransferase \[ALT\]) =\< 3 x ULN = 135 units per liter (U/L); for the purpose of this study, the ULN for SGPT is 45 U/L
• •Serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) aspartate aminotransferase \[AST\] =\< 3 x ULN = 150 U/L; for the purpose of this study, the ULN for SGOT is 50 U/L
• •Serum albumin \>= 2 g/dL
• •Patients with seizure disorder may be enrolled if on non-enzyme inducing anticonvulsants and well controlled
• •Nervous system disorders (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events \[CTCAE\] version \[v\]5) resulting from prior therapy must be =\< grade 2 with the exception of tendon reflex (deep tendon reflex \[DTR\]); any grade of DTR is eligible
• •Corrected QT interval (QTc) =\< 480 msec
• •All patients and/or their parents or legally authorized representatives must sign a written informed consent; assent, when appropriate, will be obtained according to institutional guidelines
• •Pregnant or breast-feeding women may not be entered on this study; pregnancy tests must be obtained in girls who are post-menarchal; negative serum or urine pregnancy test within 3 days prior to enrollment
• •Males or females of reproductive potential may not participate unless they have agreed to use an effective contraceptive methods as follows: fertile females of childbearing potential who agree to use adequate contraceptive measures from 2 weeks prior to the study and until 1 month after study treatment discontinuation; male patients willing to abstain or use barrier contraception (i.e. condoms) for the duration of the study and for 3 months after treatment stops
• •Patients receiving corticosteroids are eligible for this trial
• •Patients must not currently be receiving enzyme inducing anticonvulsants
• •Herbal preparations are not allowed throughout the study; these herbal medications include but are not limited to: St. John's wort, kava, ephedra (ma hung), gingko biloba, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), yohimbe, saw palmetto and ginseng; patients should stop using these herbal medications 7 days prior to study enrollment
• •Any known hypersensitivity or contraindication to the components of the study drug AZD1775
• •Patients must not receive metformin for at least 5 days prior to enrollment and for the duration of study treatment
• •Patients must be able to swallow capsules; nasogastric or gastrostomy feeding (G) tube administration is not allowed
• •Major surgical procedures =\< 28 days of beginning study treatment, or minor surgical procedures (including ventriculoperitoneal \[VP\] shunt placement or stereotactic biopsy of the tumor) =\< 7 days; no waiting period required following port-a-cath or other central venous access placement