From Dear Willie Rudd, by Libba Moore Gray, this book quote:

 

 “Miss Elizabeth felt troubled.  She went out on the front porch and sat in her grandmother’s big green wicker rocker.  And she rocked, and she rocked, and she rocked. “

An adult remembers her childhood relationship with an African-American woman and wishes she could thank her and apologize for any wrongs committed due to racial ignorance.

In one of my first Children's Literature classes, I was assigned to read Dear Willie Rudd, after all these years, I still remember the impact of the story, the heartache of the problem.  How do you ask for forgiveness when the person who could grant it is no longer living?  Miss Elizabeth does recognize that she was part of something that was not right, and she wants more than anything to say she is sorry.  And she does.

For grown up book clubs this story is  a great way to introduce a discussion of:

The Help

 

or

To Kill A Mockingbird