An extraordinary chronicle of youth that evokes the paradoxes of modern Africacomplex, contradictory, and full of conflict, tragedy, and joy.

Patrice Nganang, the acclaimed author ofDog Days,Mount Pleasant, and, most recently,A Trail of Crab Tracks, which was a 2022New YorkerBook of the Year, writes about his vibrant, animated youth in Cameroon, a period of upheaval and change in the countrys history and in his life.

Scale Boyis a memoir that brings great brightness and joy to the tumultuous years of discovering oneself and ones community; though there are moments of danger and confusion in his story, Nganang aims to present a new vision of a young Black African mans coming-of-age.

Patrice Nganangwas born in Cameroon and is a novelist, a poet, and an essayist. His novelDog Daysreceived the Prix Marguerite Yourcenar and the Grand Prix littraire d’Afrique noire. He is also the author ofMount Pleasant(FSG, 2016),When the Plums Are Ripe(FSG, 2019), andA Trail of Crab Tracks(FSG, 2022). He teaches comparative literature at Stony Brook University in New York.

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Publish Date: January 20, 2026
• Pages: 464
• Language: English
• Type: Hardback
• EAN/UPC: 9780374614515
• Dimensions: 228.6 X 6.0 X 1.0 inches | 1.0 pounds
• BISAC Categories: Biography & Memoir, History