Beginning in 1998, the editors of "Technology and Children" ("T&C") have included 72 different children's books in a regular feature called "Books to Briefs." These columns are offered to teachers as a means of integrating design and technology activities into elementary-school curricula via children's literature. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the first 11 years of "Books to Briefs" columns, both as elementary reading-related activities and as technological literacy activities. Two broad research questions were addressed: (1) To what degree are "Books to Briefs" activities consonant with generally accepted principles of elementary reading instruction?; and (2) How robust are these activities as design challenges? To what degree do they exhibit the characteristics of good technology activities? Suggestions are offered as a way of increasing the degree to which "Books to Briefs" columns represent best practices in education. (Contains 4 figures, 8 tables, and 2 footnotes.)