This study discerns the complexities of the relationship between literacy and international development at three levels: 1) at the ideological level, by examining how childhood literacy is conceptualized as an absolutely integral component of international development agendas, 2) at the institutional level, by examining how schools, governmental bodies, and non-governmental organizations interpret and implement literacy-related policy and curricula, and 3) at the community and individual level, by considering how these interventions shape and in turn are shaped by schoolchildren, their families, and teachers through everyday practice. By comparing the practices, developmental processes, and outcomes of an influential childhood literacy campaign, Literacy Boost, in Belu Regency, a rural region bordering East Timor, and in North Jakarta, one of the five cities comprising the mega-metropolitan capital of Indonesia, I trace educational experiences and socioeconomic development trajectories across heterogeneous geographic and cultural contexts. Drawing on thirteen months of ethnographic research, and discourse analysis and language socialization frameworks in my analytic procedure, I identify both intended and unintended outcomes of the intervention. Beyond the central goal of promoting literacy acquisition, Literacy Boost also had far reaching impact on how literacy was framed and assessed in classroom practice; on the power dynamics and democratic practices at participating schools; and on discipline and constructions of authority, both in classrooms and among adult stakeholders of the program. This project advances understandings of the relationship between literacy and international development processes, which can contribute to the better design, contextualization, and implementation of literacy initiatives globally.