If there's one thing I love more than a good find, it's a good find that doesn't make me wince at the checkout. I popped into Shameena Supermarket last week for bread and milk, and walked out with an armful of kids' books — each one starting from only 5 AED.
Not old stock. Not damaged copies. Proper children's books, activity books, colouring books and early-learning titles stacked on shelves right there in the supermarket. The kind of place you walk past a hundred times without looking up.
Sometimes the best discoveries are hiding in the places you already visit every week.
What you can actually find
The range changes, but on this visit there were picture books for toddlers, phonics workbooks, colouring sets, puzzle books and Arabic-English bilingual titles. Enough variety that I could grab something for Zayn's current mood — a sticker book for quiet afternoons, a counting workbook for when he wants to "do homework" like the big kids, and a bedtime story that wasn't already memorised.
At 5 AED a book, I don't overthink it. If he doesn't love one, we pass it on. If he reads it to pieces, we replace it without guilt. That's a rare combination when most kids' books in Dubai sit closer to 40–60 AED each.
Why budget books matter
I'm a big believer in having books everywhere — not just on a special shelf. A few paperbacks in the car. One by the sofa. A small basket in his bedroom. When books are cheap, they can be casual. They can be chewed, drawn on, left in the sandpit, replaced. The pressure to keep them pristine disappears, and Zayn actually reaches for them more.
It also means I can follow his interests without budgeting for it. One week it's dinosaurs, the next it's vehicles, then he decides he's obsessed with the alphabet. A 5 AED book makes it easy to say yes.
The location
Shameena Supermarket carries the @shemeenatrading range. Worth a wander if you're nearby — the book section is tucked among the household aisles, so you do need to look for it. Pro tip: check the lower shelves where the smaller titles often hide.