The Pelikan Pelikano Junior, perfect for kids.

The Pelikan Pelikano Junior is a great beginner fountain pen for children to learn to write with.  Its bright colors, sturdy plastic body, and strong stainless steel nib are just some of the qualities that make this such a great learning tool for young writers.  This item was very kindly given to me by Tom over at Goldspot Luxury Gifts…even if you are not in the market to buy a pen, you should probably check out their blog too since that is how I found out about the giveaway for this pen.

The Pelikan Pelikano Junior uncapped with the comfy rubber grip.

As I mentioned already, there are a few things about this Pelikano Junior that really stand out as making it ideal for a young writer, but to me the most noticeable and most important is the grip.  In addition to being a very comfortable and easy to hold onto grip, it also is shaped and angled perfectly so the different sides of the grip automatically guide your thumb and index finger on the exact right spot of the barrel.  The pen is designed in two different versions to accomplish this neat little trick, so if you are looking to buy one of these, make sure you order the correct left hand or right hand version.  The other features of this pen that make it great for a younger writer are the durable components such as the cap and the nib…VERY sturdy, and although I did not try it, I feel like they would stand up well to being dropped or abused.  Speaking of being dropped, the pen also has a design with enough protrusions along the cap and body to prevent it from rolling off of a table as is likely to happen with the target audience here.  Another handy little feature on this pen is the sticker that affixes to the inside of the pen that you write your childs name on.  With the sticker visible from the outside there is never any confusion as to who the pen belongs to on those incredibly rare instances where a brother and/or sister just cant seem to agree on who owns something. 🙂

Pelikan Pelikano Junior and the Pelikan M 215 nib comparison. Left is the Pelikano and right is the M215 (F) nib.

For the most part I usually write with fountain pens that are a Fine size or Extra Fine size nib, the Pelikano Junior however is pretty much a Medium size nib.  I have to be honest, I was not expecting anything better than an average writing experience with the Pelikano Junior.  My assumption was based on me assuming that since the pen was so focused on being child friendly, it may have forced them to skimp in some other areas.  Thankfully I was wrong, and was very surprised at how smoothly the nib writes on multiple different types of paper, with an even and consistent line.

The Pelikan Pelikano Junior writing sample done on Whitelines graph paper.

The writing sample above was done on my Whitelines graph paper notebook, and the pen did really well here as you can see from the photo.  My only issue with writing with this pen was that I am not really used to writing with a wider nib, but I think that the size is probably appropriate for the target age group for this pen.  In the writing sample I put a quick line of text in with my Pelikan M215 with fine nib to give some perspective on the Pelikano Junior nib size.

This is a very unique pen, and for the price you really cant beat the quality and innovative features that should make for a very durable and reliable tool to help a younger writer to develop good writing habits with a fountain pen.  Thanks again to Goldspot for providing this sample.

©2016, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.