German Calendar, No December

German Calendar, No December: Three Powerful Journeys Home

In Nigeria, Olivia is considered too white. In Germany, she is treated as too Black. To find a place where she belongs, she must first define herself.

German Calendar, No December follows Olivia Evezi from a happy childhood in Warri to a difficult boarding school in Lagos and eventually to her mother’s homeland of Germany.

Olivia grows up surrounded by highlife music, books and colourful postcards. Those postcards make Germany appear exciting, orderly and full of possibility.

She also dreams of attending boarding school after reading English children’s stories filled with adventures, loyal friends and organised games.

Neither journey unfolds as Olivia imagined.

Written by Sylvia Ofili and illustrated by Birgit Weyhe, this graphic novel offers a candid and compassionate exploration of mixed identity, migration and the search for belonging.

A Happy Childhood in Warri

Olivia’s early life in Warri is filled with music, family and imagination. She listens to highlife records and builds ideas about distant places through the books and postcards around her.

Her mother comes from Europe, while her father is Nigerian. This makes Olivia’s family visible in a community where her mother is frequently described as oyinbo.

The word can be used casually, but it constantly reminds Olivia that other people consider her family different.

She begins to understand that appearance influences how people identify her. Before she is old enough to define herself, the community has already created labels for her.

German Calendar, No December captures the warmth of Olivia’s childhood while introducing the questions about race and belonging that will follow her into adulthood.

Boarding School Is Nothing Like the Books

When Olivia leaves Warri for boarding school in Lagos, she expects the adventures she has encountered in Enid Blyton stories.

She imagines friendship, sport, independence and exciting mysteries. Instead, she enters an institution dominated by strict routines and unequal power.

Senior students force younger pupils to complete chores and submit to humiliating hazing rituals.

The school’s hierarchy allows bullying to be treated as tradition. Students who have previously suffered may repeat the same behaviour when they gain authority.

Olivia is also singled out because of her mixed heritage. Her appearance makes it difficult to disappear into the crowd, even when invisibility might protect her.

German Calendar, No December uses these experiences to examine how young people respond to unfair systems and how courage can begin with refusing to accept cruelty as normal.

Friendship, Books and Small Acts of Resistance

Boarding school is difficult, but Olivia does not face it completely alone.

Friendships offer comfort, humour and the knowledge that other students can understand what she is experiencing.

Books continue providing an imaginative escape. They also help Olivia recognise that reality can be questioned rather than passively accepted.

Her rebellious instinct gradually becomes a source of strength. Olivia learns that resistance does not always begin with a dramatic public act.

It can begin when one person challenges a harmful routine, supports someone vulnerable or refuses to repeat the behaviour of an oppressor.

Through these moments, German Calendar, No December shows how young people can protect their individuality inside institutions built around obedience.

From Nigeria to Germany

Olivia’s restlessness eventually carries her to Germany, her mother’s homeland.

For years, Germany has existed in her imagination through postcards and family connections. She expects the country to provide answers about the part of her identity that never felt fully accepted in Nigeria.

Instead, she experiences immediate culture shock. Everyday systems, social expectations and public spaces require adjustment.

People see her as African or Black before recognising her German family history. The identity that made her appear foreign in Nigeria does not automatically create acceptance in Germany.

Olivia discovers that belonging cannot be inherited simply through a parent. It is shaped by race, citizenship, language and how strangers choose to interpret her body.

German Calendar, No December captures the emotional contradiction of returning to a homeland that does not immediately recognise you.

Too White for Nigeria and Too Black for Germany

In Nigeria, Olivia is marked by her connection to Europe. In Germany, she is marked by her connection to Africa.

People use words such as exotic, foreign and oyinbo to place her within categories they understand.

These labels may appear harmless to the person using them. For Olivia, they repeatedly communicate that she is not considered completely part of the community around her.

The graphic novel presents mixed identity as more than a simple combination of two cultures. Olivia must negotiate how those cultures define race, nationality and authenticity.

She gradually realises that she cannot build her identity entirely from other people’s approval.

In German Calendar, No December, finding yourself requires questioning the labels offered by family, society and national borders.

The Hidden World of Migrant Workers

Life in Germany introduces Olivia to workers and migrants whose experiences are often invisible to citizens with secure legal status.

Some live in constant fear that an official question, workplace inspection or missing document could destroy the lives they have built.

A piece of paper can determine whether a person is allowed to study, work, travel or remain in the country.

Olivia’s employment brings her into contact with people from different cultural backgrounds. Their stories expand her understanding of migration beyond her own experience.

She begins to see how immigration systems divide people into categories carrying very different rights and opportunities.

German Calendar, No December humanises these workers by presenting their personalities, friendships, ambitions and fears.

Race, Culture Shock and Everyday Prejudice

The discrimination Olivia encounters is not always dramatic or openly violent.

It can appear through intrusive questions, assumptions about Africa or comments presented as compliments.

People may reduce her to an identity they find interesting without recognising the full person standing before them.

Even well intentioned curiosity can become exhausting when Olivia is repeatedly expected to explain her hair, family, country or right to belong.

The story demonstrates how racism operates through ordinary interactions as well as institutions.

Rather than presenting Olivia only as a victim, German Calendar, No December shows how she responds with observation, humour and increasing confidence.

A Graphic Novel Filled with Music and Memory

Music helps connect different stages of Olivia’s life. The highlife records of her childhood carry memories of home as she moves into unfamiliar environments.

Books also remain important companions. They inspire her imagination, even when reality refuses to resemble the stories she has read.

Birgit Weyhe’s artwork transforms these memories into expressive visual scenes. Faces, movement and recurring images communicate emotions that do not always need explanation.

Bird imagery reflects Olivia’s restlessness and desire to explore the world beyond familiar boundaries.

The restrained colour palette gives German Calendar, No December a distinctive visual identity while linking Nigeria and Germany within one continuous journey.

Humour Within a Serious Story

Olivia encounters bullying, racism and immigration insecurity, but the book is not without warmth or humour.

Awkward encounters and cultural misunderstandings reveal the comedy that can accompany travel and growing up.

Humour allows Olivia to survive moments that might otherwise leave her feeling completely isolated.

The story also celebrates good food, good music, books and unexpected friendships.

These sources of pleasure prevent the graphic novel from treating identity only as a problem.

German Calendar, No December is ultimately interested in how people build meaningful lives despite prejudice and uncertainty.

Why Read German Calendar, No December?

• It presents a mixed Nigerian and European heroine.
• It moves from Warri to Lagos and Germany.
• It explores race, migration and cultural identity.
• It portrays the realities of Nigerian boarding school life.
• It introduces readers to the hidden world of migrant workers.
• It combines serious social themes with humour and warmth.
• It features expressive artwork by Birgit Weyhe.
• It examines what it means to belong to more than one culture.
• It is suitable for teen and adult readers.
• It will encourage thoughtful conversations about identity and home.

German Calendar, No December is ideal for readers of African graphic novels, realistic coming of age fiction and books about mixed race identity.

It is also an excellent choice for schools, book clubs and university courses discussing migration, racism, boarding school, belonging or the African diaspora.

About Sylvia Ofili and Birgit Weyhe

Sylvia Ofili is a Nigerian writer and teacher who has written under the name The Waffarian.

Born in Lagos to Nigerian and European parents, she has published writing in Nigerian and international media.

Her experience of living across cultures informs the graphic novel’s sensitive portrayal of mixed identity and migration.

Birgit Weyhe is an award winning German comic artist. She spent part of her childhood in East Africa before studying art and design in Germany.

Her experience across different cultural environments complements Ofili’s story and gives Olivia’s journey a distinctive visual language.

Discover More Powerful Graphic and Coming of Age Stories

Readers who appreciate African graphic fiction can explore On Ajayi Crowther Street, Elnathan John and Alaba Onajin’s illustrated story about family secrets and religious hypocrisy in Lagos.

You may also enjoy The Mercy Step, a powerful coming of age novel about a young Black British girl searching for her voice within a troubled family.

Read an independent assessment of the story and illustrations in the Kirkus Reviews discussion of German Calendar No December.

Find the Courage to Define Yourself

German Calendar, No December is a moving story about discovering that home is not always the place where other people immediately accept you.

Olivia’s journey shows that identity can be created through experience, friendship and the courage to move beyond restrictive labels.

Order German Calendar, No December today and follow Olivia from Warri to Lagos and Germany on an unforgettable search for identity, freedom and belonging.