The notebooks are affordable and easy to use but the cover brakes very easily. This happens specially with younger children. I was thinking ways to generate a solution to this problem but there is not much the manufacturers can do. Since a thin metal wire bind the front cover the pages and the back cover of the notebook the cover of the notebook is going to continue to rip. However may be you might want to use something else to bind the notebooks. For example a plastic thread or regular thread. This may decrease or minimize the number of young children who break their notebook covers within the first couple of weeks of schools.
Staples sold these as a promotion item. If you spent at least five bucks you could purchase up to six notebooks for up to a penny each. For me this was a bargain. I could easily spend $ five dollars in a Staples store so "that was easy." After buying some erasable pens a plastic tote bag and a few cards on clearance I had my minimum purchase. Then it was all about picking the notebooks in a variety of colors. Blue orange black pink red purple... take your pick! This was a good promotion!