Book Recommendation: Fair Weather

The kids and I recently finished listening to Richard Peck's Fair Weather on CD.  Although I've heard of Peck, I can't remember ever reading anything by him.  Wikipedia claims that he still uses an electric typewriter and "refuses to embrace new technology".  That's kind of ironic because this book is all about embracing what is new. 

Set in 1893, Fair Weather is the story of a 13 year old country girl named Rosie who gets the chance to travel to Chicago for the World Columbian Exposition with her grandfather, older sister, and younger brother.  It is a very nice mix of fact and fiction - only branching a little into feeling unreal (Granddad turns out to really know Buffalo Bill and this brush with real famous people seems out of place in the book to me.) and no apparent anachronisms - something that annoys me excessively in historical fiction.

The kids enjoyed this book, however, it is probably even better for middle school aged kids.  The theme of emerging technology is very pleasantly presented and this would make good fodder for a book report or study of a time in history when many technological changes were on the verge of changing life for everyone - something that was scary then and is still scary even though we live in a time when that is starting to become expected.   I liked it.