Adam Rapp's new play came out of -- in part -- a censorship battle over his book.

From the New York Times:

The issue did not go away. A year later Mr. Rapp, an athletically lanky, soft-spoken man, was invited to Muhlenberg for yet another public forum, and his mind turned in a different, more complicated direction. During the meeting a young woman asked the board chairman how he dared make decisions about what was good for students when he had barely ever set foot in the high school himself. Dozens of teenagers leapt to their feet and cheered.

“I was more shaken and moved by that than by any standing ovation,” Mr. Rapp said.

But he was moved, as well, by the opponents of the book, who, he said, were civilized, articulate and sincere. It was when Mr. Rapp rode the train back to New York City that the play that became “The Metal Children” began to gestate.

I've never read The Buffalo Tree.  That's just embarrassing.