It was at these festivals that Alex got the idea for a way to use his talent to help others. He noticed that many of the storytellers sold CDs with some of their stories. "People would ask me if I had one. I thought, 'I'm kind of young for that.' "

But just as he began thinking about doing a CD, his Grandmother Hall was diagnosed with cancer and died a few months later.

"She was his number one fan," says Torri. "She went to a lot of his performances, or, if she couldn't come, she would be on the phone immediately after, wanting to know how he did."

So Alex decided to produce a storytelling CD in memory of his grandmother and donate all the proceeds to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.

"Alex pays for all the costs of production and duplication out of his own money," explains Torri. "All of the $10 he gets for each CD goes to the foundation. So far, he's raised more than $2,300 for cancer research."

The CD, titled "Remember," has six stories, some of which are autobiographical, including "Remembering Grandma," and some that he's told at festivals: "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs," by Jon Scieszka, and "Crossing Bok Chitto," by Tim Tingle. He got permission from the authors to include the stories on his CD, just as he does to tell their stories at festivals.

Alex sells the CDs at events where he tells stories or by mail order. For more information, e-mail torri@sfcn.org.

Because of his storytelling, Alex has had other opportunities. He works with McCarty Talent & Modeling in Salt Lake City, and has been featured in several local commercials, an industrial video and has done some voice-overs. His favorite is the voice-over of Carlos Bat for audio tours of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico.

Alex also plays the cello. At school, he enjoys math and reading, and he's into sports, especially football and basketball.

But nothing quite compares to storytelling. Alex has even started a little club to let other kids know about it. "So many people don't understand what storytelling is."

What it is, is huge, says Torri, with a lot of opportunities out there. How far might Alex go? "That's totally up to him," she says. "We've told him we'll support him as long as he wants to do it, but we're not pressuring him at all."

As for Alex, the best part is "making people laugh. It's a lot of fun." That, and "it's nice just to have people pay attention to me. With three bigger sisters, I don't get to talk much at home." Maybe that story could be called, "Alex, the Boy Who's Outnumbered and Still Finds a Way to Shine."

Alex has learned early that stories enrich life. "I just like to tell them," he says.

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E-mail: carma@desnews.com