The Pleasures of Back to School Shopping

From Canada’s National Post, a nice appreciation of the pleasures of notebooks, pens and other supplies: Move over Moleskine.

Oh, how I longed for that pack of Prismacolor pencils! Yet every year my consolation prize was a plastic pack of Laurentiens and, if I was lucky, a fruit-scented eraser. But the gold-tipped deep red Prismacolor box is what I remember most from the annual August school supply shopping of my childhood. Hilroy notebooks, Berol HBs, Elmer’s Glue and Pink Pearl erasers, maybe a Trapper Keeper. But certainly never the Prismacolor or the fancier-still Faber-Castells.

I got all excited for a minute, thinking ” ‘Hilroy?!?!?’ A new notebook brand I’ve never heard of!” But they’re actually pretty dull-looking, along the lines of Mead notebooks. Further along in the article, Moleskine, Rhodia, Field Notes, Canteo, Whitelines, Clairefontaine, Rite in the Rain and other brands are mentioned. And I liked this quote at the end:

The beauty with having a notebook is that you write anything random down. You can always cross it out later.

6 thoughts on “The Pleasures of Back to School Shopping”

  1. Don’t diss Mead! We in the UK love them – they’re kind of like the Holy Grail and my lovely penpal in New York has sent me 4 in different colours – I’m in notebook heaven! :-)

  2. Hilroy notebooks are very common in Canada, but I am not sure how common they are in other parts of the world. I believe Hilroy notebooks are actually made in Canada. They are just your basic notebook and seem to be one of the most popular brands for school use.

  3. I just received my Canteo notebook from Nota Bene in Montreal about 2 hours ago. It is beautiful and I can’t wait to use it. It was definitely worth the wait. It has me dreaming of a visit up to Montreal to visit in person and maybe stock up.

  4. Hilroy products are nothing to get excited about. They, like too many spiral bound notebooks, have flimsy covers. Why is that? If you have to write while balancing the notebook on your knee or just in your hand, forget it. The book just flops around.

    And Jennifer – Montreal has LOTS to recommend it, not just notebook/pen stores. (And I’m not biased – I live in Toronto!)

  5. yeah, hilroy are the standard to use in school, since they’re pretty cheap, especially when they go on sale during the back-to-school period. i remember stocking up on them when i was a kid in school, buying dozens at a time for like a quarter each.

  6. Finalmente consegui ter o meu primeiro Canteo. Surpreendeu-me a qualidade superior da papel, o toque maravilhoso e suave da capa rija,a colocação do elastico meticulosamente estudada, o lápis que desliza suavemente pelo papel e os utilissimos marca páginas em metal dão o toque final, áquele que definitivamente é o melhor NoteBook que alguma vez experimentei. Recomendo-o a todos.

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