In small-town America, a young adult novel about teen pregnancy is banned by the local school board, igniting a fierce and violent debate over abortion, religious beliefs, and modern feminism. Its directionless New York City author arrives in town to defend the book and finds that it has inspired a group of local teens to rebel in strange and unexpected ways. A timely and unforgettable drama about the failure of urban and heartland America to understand each other,The Metal Childrenexplores what happens when fiction becomes a matter of life and death.Adam Rappis the author of numerous plays, including the Pulitzer Prize finalistRed Light Winter, and the novelThe Year of Endless Sorrows. In 2005, his young adult novelThe Buffalo Treewas censored by a school board in Reading, Pennsylvania.In small-town America, a young adult novel about teen pregnancy is banned by the local school board, igniting a fierce and violent debate over abortion, religious beliefs, and modern feminism. Its directionless New York City author arrives in town to defend the book and finds that it has inspired a group of local teens to rebel in strange and unexpected ways. A timely and unforgettable drama about the failure of urban and heartland America to understand each other,The Metal Childrenexplores what happens when fiction becomes a matter of life and death. "[Rapp] shows an exuberant love for the written word . . . [He] tells stories that encase classical themes--class and envy, ambition and alienation--in blunt terms and in modern settings." --Jesse McKinley,The New York TimesPraise for Adam Rapp: "[Rapp] shows an exuberant love for the written word . . . [He] tells stories that encase classical themes--class and envy, ambition and alienation--in blunt terms and in modern settings." --Jesse McKinley,The New York Times "Rapp . . . is a gifted storyteller. He makes demands on his audience, and he rewards its close attention with depth and elegance." --John Lahr,The New Yorker