Institute History
Description
Nicknamed “Leche” because of her pale complexion and rare golden locks, Nina Guzman finds herself ostracized from the other Dominican kids in the small Pennsylvania community where she lives. Maribel, the nine year old’s mother, proclaims Nina should feel blessed to be “white” and that when she was a child she bathed in milk hoping one day to have skin like Nina’s. When local hunters kill an albino deer in the community, Nina is forced to delve into the complexities of her isolation and identity as she seeks to find out more about the deer. Nina’s uniqueness is only heightened when she resuscitates a classmate from a near death experience in the woods during a school trip and rumors spread that she has magic powers. These rumors catapult into a series of strange, miraculous events that become attributed to Nina. A jealous classmate decides to take matters into her own hands and plans a witch hunt to reveal Nina as a fraud. After the trials, she begins to realize the truth: the “real” magic is Nina’s inner strength and that everything else is skin deep.