Vorinostat With or Without Isotretinoin in Treating Young Patients With Recurrent or Refractory Solid Tumors, Lymphoma, or Leukemia

Inclusion Criteria: * Histologically confirmed\* diagnosis of 1 of the following: * Recurrent or refractory solid tumor or lymphoma (for patients in group 1) * Measurable or evaluable disease * Recurrent or refractory leukemia (for patients in group 2) * Greater than 25% blasts in the bone marrow (i.e., M3 bone marrow) * Active extramedullary disease allowed except leptomeningeal disease * Recurrent or refractory CNS tumor of 1 of the following types (for patients in group 3): * Neuroblastoma * Medulloblastoma/CNS primitive neuroectodermal tumor * Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor * No known curative therapy or therapy proven to prolong survival with an acceptable quality of life exists * No bone marrow involvement by disease (for patients in groups 1 and 3) * No active CNS leukemia * Performance status - Lansky 50-100% (for patients ≤ 10 years of age) * Performance status - Karnofsky 60-100% (for patients \> 10 years of age) * Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,000/mm\^3 (for solid tumor patients) * Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm\^3\* (for solid tumor patients) (20,000/mm\^3\*\* for leukemia patients) * Hemoglobin ≥ 8.0 g/dL (RBC transfusion allowed) (for solid tumor and leukemia patients) * Triglycerides \< 300 mg/dL (for patients in group 3) * Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) * ALT ≤ 5 times ULN * Albumin ≥ 2 g/dL * Creatinine clearance or radioisotope glomerular filtration rate ≥ 70 mL/min * Creatinine based on age as follows: * No greater than 0.8 mg/dL (for patients ≤ 5 years of age) * No greater than 1.0 mg/dL (for patients 6 to 10 years of age) * No greater than 1.2 mg/dL (for patients 11 to 15 years of age) * No greater than 1.5 mg/dL (for patients over 15 years of age) * Negative dipstick for protein OR \< 1,000 mg protein/24 hour urine collection (for patients in group 3) * No evidence of gross hematuria (for patients in group 3) * Not pregnant or nursing * Negative pregnancy test * Fertile patients must use effective contraception * Body surface area ≥ 0.5 m\^2 * Neurologic deficits in patients with CNS tumors must be stable for ≥ 1 week before study entry * Able to swallow whole capsules * No uncontrolled infection * Skin toxicity \< grade 1 (for patients in group 3) * Recovered from prior immunotherapy * At least 7 days since prior hematopoietic growth factors * At least 7 days since prior antineoplastic biologic agents * At least 2 months since prior stem cell transplantation or rescue * No evidence of active graft-versus-host disease * No other concurrent biologic therapy or immunotherapy * More than 3 weeks since prior myelosuppressive chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas) and recovered * No concurrent chemotherapy * Patients with CNS tumors must be on a stable or decreasing dose of dexamethasone for ≥ 7 days prior to study entry * No concurrent dexamethasone for antinausea or antiemetic therapy * Recovered from prior radiotherapy * At least 2 weeks since prior local, palliative, small-port radiotherapy * At least 3 months since prior total-body irradiation, radiotherapy to the craniospinal area, or radiotherapy to ≥ 50% of the pelvis * At least 6 weeks since other prior substantial radiotherapy to the bone marrow * No concurrent radiotherapy * At least 2 weeks since prior valproic acid * No other concurrent investigational agents * No other concurrent anticancer therapy * No concurrent enzyme-inducing anticonvulsants