This item works well and is very fun for my daughter. The one issue we found was that it is difficult to duplicate a longer password. Stick with a short one and you will be fine.
My daughter, age 6, loves this journal. But I wish it had a volume knob on it, because it is really loud. And make sure your child doesn't say the password in a funny voice when they first record it, because then it's hard to get the password right later.