Undone

Book: Undone by Brooke Taylor

2008-11-14T06:40:00.001-08:00

About the Book:

When Kori Kitlzer, the “dark angel” of the 8th grade, tells Serena Moore that they are more alike than she thinks, Serena is instantly intrigued. As their friendship solidifies and their lives entwine, Serena tries to become more like the fearless, outspoken, and ambitious Kori. Soon Serena doesn’t know where she begins and Kori ends. But when a twist of fate yanks Kori away from Serena, she will need to find a way to complete her best friend’s life left undone.
Undone is a striking debut novel about friendship, family, and the secrets we keep from the people to whom we are closest.

About the Author:

Brooke Taylor lives and writes from her country home in Oklahoma where her horses are a constant, but happy, distraction. Her first “real” job was as a Wrangler for a dude ranch. Since then she has worked for ski resorts in Colorado and traveled the high seas while living on cruise ships. Undone is her first novel.

Book Trailer: Undone

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Tour of UNDONE

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Welcome to Kismet, Colorado!
(fictitious home of Undone)

Kismet is a fictionalized mish-mash of cities in Colorado. One is Evergreen, Colorado, which is an upscale bedroom community just up the hill from Denver, much like Kismet is.

Here are some pics of the reservoir that Serena and Kori go to hang out.
This is beach where Kori skinny dips!

Many of the details that turn up in Kismet came from my years living in the mountains of Colorado. The extreme degrees of difference between the wealthy and the working class is very much a factor in most of Colorado’s mountain towns—you either live in a mansion of a log home or an apartment that hasn’t seen new carpet since the 1960’s. There is no in between.

Vail's once infamous Saab police car

And my favorite pizza place, Beau Jo’s, even makes an appearance. In RL, the original location is in Idaho Springs, Colorado. You must go if you ever are heading up I-70 on a ski trip.

YUM!

The trip Serena took with Cole was to The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park made more famous by Stephen King’s The Shining. In the movie it is called the Overlook Hotel.

In real life,The Stanley Hotel is haunted.

Charcter Quiz: Undone

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http://www.quizilla.com/quizzes/8245122/which-undone-character-are-you

Casting Characters: Undone

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Kristen Stewart as Kori: dark, troubled, guarded, tough.

Ellen Page as Serena: cynical & sarcastic on the outside, vulnerable & innocent on the inside.

Thomas Dekker as "Becks": solid & soulful, sweet but not so innocent.

Taylor Kitcsh as Shay: Sexy, dangerous, bad boy with a conscience

Character Collage: Kori Kitzler

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The images in this collage reflect Serena's best friend, Kori Kitzler. The poem "To My Haters" could easily have been written by her as people are always stopping and staring and talking about her. She has her own style and could care less if anyone else has anything to say about it. Tough and hard, she is honest. Or is she? Her best friend Serena, thinks so. But her best friend, with those beautiful blue eyes would probably believe anything she told her. That's why she has to be careful. She wants what is best for Serena, she wants her to meet a good guy who won't use her. And Kori knows a lot about that. She's had quite a few bad boys in her life, but as the sign above her says: "Love Rd. One Way."

Playlist: Undone

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The first song on the playlist is Wild Horses by The Sundays. The song is mentioned in Undone when Serena compares hearing Kori sing to hearing this version of the song. In doing so, she is also describing how special and different Kori is.

Burning Bright by Shinedown is perhaps the song that best describes Serena and Kori's relationship.

Lyrics like: Some questions are better left without a reason/And I would rather reveal myself than my situation/Now and then I consider, my hesitation describe the secrets Kori has kept from Serena.

The chorus: The more the light shines through me/I pretend to close my eyes/The more the dark consumes me/I pretend I'm burning, burning bright describe the way the two best friends are opposites, but the same. Almost yin and yang.

Popular by Nada Surf is a fun song describing the social atmosphere of Kismet High.

Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne is another fun song that is included for the scene where Serena's friend Cole steals the most popular boy in school's attention.

But the fun soon ends, and that bring us to Pearl Jam's Black-- a song that Serena plays over and over as she tries to cope with a sudden horrific loss in her life. The lyrics perfectly match how her world has now changed:

all the pictures had all been washed in black, tattooed everything.../all the love gone bad, turned my world to black/tattooed all i see, all that i am, all i'll ever be.../i know someday you'll have a beautiful life, i know you'll be a star/in somebody else's sky, but why/why, why can't it be, why can't it be mine?

Author Information: Brooke Taylor

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Brooke Taylor lives and writes from her country home in Oklahoma where her pets are a constant, but happy, distraction. She doesn't remember a time when she didn't have a book on her bedside table or an idea for a story in her head and she fully admits to getting a little giddy at the sight of a floor-to-ceiling bookcase. When she’s not reading or writing, she enjoys horseback riding, going to the lake, and traveling.

On Fate, Family, & Secrets:

“I started UNDONE intending to write a book about fate and what happens when you start living the life you’ve always envied. As the characters started opening up and coming to life, UNDONE became much more than just a careful-what-you-wish-for novel. It also became a novel about friendship, family, and the secrets we keep from the people we are closest to. And there’s nothing more human (or fascinating!) than the need or desire to lead a secret life.”

On Friendship:

“For me, one of the most interesting facets of UNDONE is the intense friendship between the two teenage girls, Kori and Serena. Serena believes she knows Kori inside and out; but it is only when Serena loses Kori that she begins to learn about who her friend really is.”

Source: BrookeTaylorBooks.com

NCTE- LINKS

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The following are websites mentioned during the NCTE workshop, they each give further examples of everything included here and more!

Ghost Girl:
http://www.ghostgirl.com/ Amazing interactive website has everything, including Horrorscopes and a Charolette Usher paper doll game!

The House of Night:
http://www.houseofnightseries.com/ Another cool interactive site--allows fans to create their own vampyre tatoos!

Melissa Marr:
http://www.melissa-marr.com/melissa_marr/Wicked_Lovely.php Lots of fun extras!

Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare:
Location Map: http://www.mortalinstruments.com/mortallocations.html
Character Profiles: http://www.mortalinstruments.com/mortalcharacters.html
Fan Art: http://www.mortalinstruments.com/mortalartwork.html

Stephenie Meyer:
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ Lots of extras, playlists, outtakes, pictures of Forks and the Cullens cars.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher:
http://www.thirteenreasonswhy.com/ Map of where Clay goes the night he listens to Hannah's tapes!

A fan blog for Scott Westerfeld's Midnighters book:
http://www.geocities.com/thesecrethour/bixby.html also Quizes and Casting

Val Unleashed A blog from the character's POV (Unleashed by Kristopher Reisz):
http://val-unleashed.livejournal.com/

My So Called Death a blog in the voice of Tommy a zombie from the book Generation Dead by Daniel Waters:

www.mysocalledundeath.com

Author Simone Elkelese has a fun interactive site with quizzes and book trailers:

www.simoneelkeles.net

The Fablehaven series has an really cool area called "The Preserve" with all sorts of fun stuff:

www.fablehaven.com/thepreserve

Some awesome Book Trailers:

All of the Class of 2k8 books have trailer: http://uk.youtube.com/user/TheClassof2k8

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6ushyNJhnrs&feature=related 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher (video is made by a fan!)

(more in the series here: http://uk.youtube.com/user/Hannahsfriend13)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mUi3Ap2ga1U Forest of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TWvqWCcB4_I Boys that Bite by Mari Mancusi

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mnk1zPw_PHc Adoration of Jenna Fox

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tMoXMhql0L0&feature=related Love, Stargirl

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=N7IpLhITWvs Wake by Lisa McMann

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mpht-_aN7YA Maximum Ride by James Patterson