A total of thirty-eight preschool children were randomly assigned to one of two explicit teaching treatments to teach alphabet letter sounds. One treatment was designed to enhance motivation and learning by utilizing letters with letter sound characters integrated into the letter shapes (integrated mnemonics) and short narratives about the letter sound characters. In the treated control, plain letters and alphabet books were the foundation of instruction. There were no significant treatment effects on children’s perceptions of ability or desire/interest for school tasks (cross-domain) or letters (domain-specific). (author abstract)