Adavosertib and Irinotecan Hydrochloride in Treating Younger Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Solid Tumors

Exclusion Criteria

• •Part C: Patients must have measurable disease by computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• •Part D: Patients must have measurable disease for Part D
• •Patient's current disease state must be one for which there is no known curative therapy or therapy proven to prolong survival with an acceptable quality of life
• •Karnofsky \>= 50% for patients \> 16 years of age and Lansky \>= 50 for patients =\< 16 years of age; note: neurologic deficits in patients with CNS tumors must have been relatively stable for at least 7 days prior to study enrollment; 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 have fully recovered from the acute toxic effects of all prior anti-cancer chemotherapy
• •At least 21 days after the last dose of myelosuppressive chemotherapy (42 days if prior nitrosourea)
• •At least 14 days after the last dose of a long-acting growth factor (e.g. Neulasta) or 7 days for short-acting growth factor; for agents that have known adverse events occurring beyond 7 days after administration, this period must be extended beyond the time during which adverse events are known to occur; the duration of this interval must be discussed with the study chair
• •At least 7 days after the last dose of a biologic agent; for agents that have known adverse events occurring beyond 7 days after administration, this period must be extended beyond the time during which adverse events are known to occur; the duration of this interval must be discussed with the study chair
• •At least 42 days after the completion of any type of immunotherapy, e.g. tumor vaccines
• •\>= 21 days must have elapsed from infusion of lase dose of antibody, and toxicity related to prior antibody therapy must be recovered to grade =\< 1
• •At least 14 days after local palliative radiation therapy (XRT) (small port); at least 150 days must have elapsed if prior traumatic brain injury (TBI), craniospinal XRT or if \>= 50% radiation of pelvis; at least 42 days must have elapsed if other substantial bone marrow radiation, including therapeutic doses of iobenguane (MIBG)
• •Stem cell Infusion without TBI: no evidence of active graft vs host disease and at least 84 days must have elapsed after transplant or stem cell infusion
• •Patients previously treated with irinotecan are eligible for this study
• •For patients with solid tumors without known bone marrow involvement: peripheral absolute neutrophil count (ANC) \>= 1000/mm\^3
• •For patients with solid tumors without known bone marrow involvement: platelet count \>= 100,000/mm\^3 (transfusion independent, defined as not receiving platelet transfusions for at least 7 days prior to enrollment)
• •For patients with solid tumors without known bone marrow involvement: hemoglobin \>= 8.0 g/dL (may receive red blood cell \[RBC\] transfusions)
• •Patients with known bone marrow metastatic disease will be eligible for study provided they meet the blood counts (may receive transfusions provided they are not known to be refractory to red cell or platelet transfusions); these patients will not be evaluable for hematologic toxicity; at least 2 of every cohort of 3 patients must be evaluable for hematologic toxicity for Part A, the dose escalation part of the study; if dose-limiting hematologic toxicity is observed, all subsequent patients enrolled must be evaluable for hematologic toxicity
• •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:
• •* Age 1 to \< 2 years: 0.6 mg/dL
• •* Age 2 to \< 6 years: 0.8 mg/dL
• •* Age 6 to \< 10 years: 1 mg/dL
• •* Age 10 to \< 13 years: 1.2 mg/dL
• •* Age 13 to \< 16 years: 1.5 mg/dL (males), 1.4 mg/dL (females)
• •* Age \>= 16 years: 1.7 mg/dL (males), 1.4 mg/dL (females)
• •Bilirubin (sum of conjugated + unconjugated) =\< 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) for age
• •Serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) (alanine aminotransferase \[ALT\]) =\< 135 U/L; for the purpose of this study, the ULN for SGPT is 45 U/L
• •Serum albumin \>= 2 g/dL
• •Pregnant or breast-feeding women may not be entered on this study as there is yet no available information regarding human fetal or teratogenic toxicities; pregnancy tests must be obtained in girls who are post-menarchal
• •Males or females of reproductive potential may not participate unless they have agreed to use an effective double barrier contraceptive method for the entire duration of protocol therapy and for 3 months (males) and 1 month (females) after study drug discontinuation
• •Patients must not have received enzyme inducing anticonvulsants for at least 14 days prior to enrollment