Nikki Grimes: Hello, my name is Nikki Grimes. In case, you were wondering Nikki isn't the name I was born with, it's a name I gave myself when I was six years old, it's short for nickname. That's right, everybody has a nickname don't they? Well I didn't, and I thought I needed one, especially since most people had trouble pronouncing my birth name. So, I changed it to Nikki, short for nickname, and I've been Nikki ever since. What's my real name? That's a story for another day.