42 pages • 1 hour read
Fair Weather
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Background
Authorial Context: Richard Peck
Richard Wayne Peck was born in Decatur, Illinois, in 1934, a place he has described as “middle Middle America” (“Obituary: Richard Peck.” Publishers Weekly, 24 May 2018). He was educated at DePauw University, Indiana, and the University of Exeter, UK. After briefly serving as a chaplain’s assistant in the U.S. Army during the draft, he completed his master’s degree at Southern Illinois University. At first, he worked as a high school English teacher but left after a few years to pursue writing, in 1971. Since then, Peck has written over 50 books for children, teens, and adults. His earliest novels were so-called “problem novels,” dealing with contemporary teenage issues such as pregnancy, rape, and suicide. After his first historical novel in the “Blossom Culp” series, The Ghost Belonged to Me (1975), was adapted as a film, he has written several works of historical fiction for young adults.
Peck’s leap to fame came in the late 1990s after the publication of A Long Way from Chicago (1999), a Newbery Honor Book and National Book Award finalist. Its sequel, A Year Down Yonder (2000) won the 2001 Newbery Medal. After those books, he wrote mainly historical fiction for children; Fair Weather (2001) is one of these.
Peck became a popular reader and speaker, known for his humor and approachability. This was reflected in the humor in his books, along with his painstaking research and memorable characters. His favorite writer was Mark Twain; he kept a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on his writing desk and read a few pages from it each day. A champion of individuals and underdogs in his work, he stated his major theme in the preface to his autobiography: “Nobody ever grows up in a group” (Peck, Richard. Anonymously Yours. Messner/Simon & Schuster, 1991).
Peck identified as gay and discussed the experience of being a young adult at a time when being gay was illegal in the US. He occasionally expressed public support for gay rights and marriage equality, especially toward the end of his life. His last book, 2016’s The Best Man, was a contemporary story about a boy whose two idols, his uncle and his male teacher, fall in love and marry. It was named one of the best books of the year by numerous reviewers. Peck’s last published piece was an essay defending the book against attempts to censor the book for its portrayal of a gay relationship. Peck died in 2018.
In addition to his Newbery Medal and Honor awards, Peck received the 2002 National Humanities Medal and the 1990 Margaret A. Edwards Award, given by the American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Division for significant and lasting contributions to young adult literature.
Historical Context: The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair
The 1893 World’s Fair, held in Chicago, was also called the World’s Columbian Exposition in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World. Today it is known as the “World Exposition.” The tradition began in 1851 with London’s “Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations.” Prior to this, countries had held individual expositions; the 1851 fair was the first to celebrate worldwide accomplishments in science and industry.
The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair is considered the most important world’s fair in American history and ranks among the most important ever held. It had over 25 million visitors. It covered more than 600 acres of the city’s Jackson Park and was nicknamed the “White City” for the number of white buildings erected. These showcased advances in technology, such as the combustion engine, and housed art and educational lectures. Running through this was the Midway, a mile-long arcade with rides, music, food, entertainment, and the world’s first Ferris wheel. Electricity—a novelty to most Americans—was used to light the buildings at night, leading to the subsequent widespread adoption of electricity in homes and businesses.
The fair attracted numerous celebrities, many of whom appear in Fair Weather, like ragtime composer and pianist Scott Joplin; women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony; sharpshooter Annie Oakley; singer-actress Lillian Russell; and buffalo hunter, soldier, and actor “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Cody was at the time world-famous for his Wild West show, an extravaganza involving a large cast made up of Indigenous Americans, cowboys, and animals. This show is central to Peck’s Fair-Weather, especially as a turning point for the novel’s plot and character development.
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