Michael Reviews Things!

This post:

Hilroy Notebooks

If you grew up in Canada, you likely used a separate Hilroy Exercise Book for each subject in elementary school. This review starts off with points for invoking nostalgia!

The reason I bought these notebooks is because I've been dissatisfied with the other notebook options out there. Coil bound books are obnoxious to write in and ripping a page out leaves that tacky side of feathery ripped paper. The tape bound books are unreliable. When I saw these ones in the store, I was excited by the simplicity of their design.

I'll be honest, I don't have anything negative to say, so here are my favourite elements:

Colour Variety

Blue, pink, green, and yellow

They're GREEN

They are part of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and feature Certified Fiber Sourcing.

Map of Canada

When I asked my American friend if he used these notebooks growing up, he pointed out "There's a freaking map of Canada on the front!" It has the up-to-date Territorial divisions which were missing when I was in elementary school - they were so behind the times back then!*

The map is only on the 32 page variety; there is a healthy blank space on the 80-page type so you can draw a picture of your own, or maybe it's a test to see if you can draw the map yourself from memory.

32 or 80 Pages

These are perfect sizes. 80 is good for taking notes in my seminars and 32 is a great size for individual projects or just to carry around with me for notes of interest.

Life Organization

On the back of the 32-page books, there is room for you to fill in your class-schedule information and final examination schedule.

Simple, Reliable Design

This could be seen as a slight weakness, but I like it. for a 32 sheet book, there are 16 pieces of lined paper (twice the needed width) folded in half, with a cover and then stapled to hold it in place. As a result, if you rip a page out, the opposing sheet will also fall out - this is something I remember from childhood. Nevertheless, if you conceive of the book as one notebook, not to be disassembled, it will stay that way for you!

Affordability

While a coil-bound hilroy notebook costs between 3 and 5 dollars, I got 3 80-page exercise books for $2.10 and 4 32-page exercise books for $1.60.

In Conclusion,

These little notebooks are fantastic and I highly recommend them to everyone!

*N.B. I am fully aware that the territory of Nunavut did not appear until after I finished elementary school...