Drama has been challenged by some parents and critics for being "sexually explicit", for having "subject matter too advanced for elementary students. Common Sense Media acknowledges that "some readers may be uncomfortable with the graphic novel's depiction of homosexual crushes between young teens.

And finally, I liked Jesse kissing another boy; it gave us a theme that you don't have to be gay to do things like that in acting, just like gay actors can pretend to be straight. Having not one but two (possibly three) major characters be gay made the entire thing a problem (graphic) novel about being gay, which I don't think it needed to be. There is also high praise from The Gazette to Telgemeier for using the graphic novel style to present a more mature theme. For example, Abate points out that West Redding, who bears a striking resemblance to Ashley Wilkes from the movie Gone with the Wind, is the only character in the book whose eye color is depicted. However, the details regarding the Chapel Hill Elementary School ban are limited since "there has been no news coverage.Seriously, with that being said, to all of the parents that handed this book over to their kids and then got "fired up" because they didn't realize this book has gay kids in it; shame on you.

During the 2016–17 school year, Drama was banned in the Franklin Independent School District in Franklin, Texas "most likely. The characters in this comic seemed a lot more mature to me than the ones in Smile, so I was surprised to find that they were mostly just 7th and 8th graders. Instead she's the set designer for the drama department stage crew, and this year she's determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget. She then told me that she doesn't have any gay kids in her class at school, so I had to explain that they may not know it yet or not want to share.The tons of laugh-out-loud moments, plus the cast of characters being a bunch of loving and dedicated kids kept me satisfied from start to finish. Though my Googling was fairly random and unusual overall, it was neither terribly unusual nor random in that my Googling was centered on an acquaintance from my high school drama club circle. Drama has almost consistently received a spot on the American Library Association's Top Ten 10 of Banned Books from 2014 to 2019, [16] and ultimately became the seventh-most banned book between 2010 and 2019. the graphic novel demonstrates the limitations of LGBTQ youth advocacy that does not remain cognizant of intersectionality, while it also highlights the problem with millennial forms of multiculturalism that omit critical discussions about race.