Keeping the tradition of reading alive

THE establishment of the Aquadene Community Library, just a stone’s throw from her doorstep, is a dream come true for avid bookworm, Sheilla Dunn.

She is anxiously awaiting the opening of the state-of-the-art facility which will provide a number of resources for the suburb and surrounding areas, from books to a computer centre and several conference venues.

The cliche, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ rings true for Dunn, who after a day at the office transcends into another world, getting lost in a good book, working on arts and crafts, writing on her blog or adding a few more chapters to several books she is writing.

Her love for reading began even before she started primary school and she was often given ‘hand me down’ books from her older siblings.

She recalls reading ‘Mills and Boon’ from an early age.

‘I was captivated by books. Growing up on a farm I did not have much to do as my siblings were much older and were all in school.

‘Through my youth my love for literature flourished and nothing has changed as even now I can still pick something up, read it and get lost in that world.

‘Even though times have changed and technology has advanced, reading should not be looked at as something that is old fashioned.

‘I now use technology to have a wider variety of books at my fingertips, downloading books from websites, and have the Kindle app too.

‘I have registered as an author on some sites and a few of my short stories have been published.’

She has passed down the reading bug to her grandson, Brooklyn (6), for whom she started a book collection from the time he was born.

A reading fanatic, she has an extensive library from novels by favourite authors, to magazines and newspapers.