The Young Merlin Trilogy: Passager, Hobby, and Merlin

A gem o a book

Beautifully written, this story about the early years of the great magician is itself magic.
Jane Yolen takes you into the mind of the young boy left alone in the woods for his powers and with him, we marvel as he discovers the world of men and his own powers.

A poem to the resilience of the human spirit.

Annotation:
Hobby is the second in a series called The Young Merlin Trilogy by Jane Yolen and is a tale about young Merlin. In this story, he poses as Hobby, a boy found and abandon by his adopted family due to a fire that destroyed his first home and those that he loved. His dreams are on the edge of reality and most come true only “a little slanted”. He travels with what is left of his former life, a horse and cow and finds adventure, and danger along the road.

My Review:
This story is a very interesting fantasy. The author states that the story is loosely based on the story of young Merlin. There has been few tales of his life as a boy, and the author admits this story is a created with her own imagination, “I have played around show more with the elements of the stories as writer of “Arthuriana” has always done”. Young Hobby understands that the dreams he has turn into truth only “a little slanted”. After his adopted family perishes in a fire he dreamt about but didn’t awake in time to save anyone, full of guilt he sets off with a horse and a cow to find his new beginning. First he comes upon an evil man and a fierce dog who take advantage of him and attempt to steal his horse and cow. After escaping, he comes upon a magician and a woman who befriends him and uses his gift of seeing the future through dreams, and then abandons him taking with them the cow and the horse. His dreams continue to speak of event s in advance. This series has caught my imagination and I will definitely seek the first in the series.

Other Reviews:
Booklist Review: Books for Youth, Older Readers: Gr. 6-10. This review summarizes the plot and mentions the first in the series Passager (1996) “Like the slender first book, Passager (1996), Hobby has quiet beauty and strong imagery but has more characters, action, and dialogue.” The reviewer states that although he book is intended for Grades 6-10, the sophisticated themes and style may appeal to teenage readers. This review was informative in that it gave me an overview of other books in the series. It also alerted me that the selection may appeal more to a teenage audience. Since the book is only 88 pages, it might be a good suggestion for a reluctant teenage reader.

School Library Journal Review: Gr 3-6. It is interesting to me that the Booklist review suggests this book is written for grades 6 through 10 and teenagers as well, and that this review states it would appeal to grades 3 through 6. I agree with the Booklist review regarding the age suitability. The review is a good summary of the book and says, “Though little information about Merlin's childhood appears in legend, this tale weaves in names and details that appear in adult versions of the wizard's story: Ambrosius (the magician); Vortigern (the unnamed duke); the vision of fighting dragons.” The reviewer also states that the book length is “maddeningly short”. show less

Recently, many authors have written on the subject of the life of Merlin before he became the figure we know. There is very little about this in actual Arthurian legend, so you can let your imagination go with this. The titles of the three books all refer to types of hawks, which is not something I knew until it was mentioned in the book. In this version of events, Merlin is abandoned as a child in the forest, and the adventures that follow show him interacting with the world and finally showing at the end the start of the person we know. Jane Yolen is a very gifted writer, and this book captures well the sparce world the child Merlin percieves. It is interesting to read this along with her Sword of the Rightful King, although the books show more have nothing in common other than being both based in the same mythos. show less

The Young Merlin Trilogy by Jane Yolen

This is a nice set of Y/A books about Merlin's youth.

As a child he is abandoned by his family. The book intimates that it is because of something different about him that would make them vulnerable if found out. So he is forced to live as a feral child in the woods until he is befriended by a kindly farmer. This first book tells of him being reintroduced to a domestic life, learning to trust again, farm & to work with birds of prey.

The second book tells of Merlin falling in with a traveling magician & his wife who eventually abandon him because they come to fear his dreams, the fist signs of his magic. He goes back to the forest where he feels safe and comes upon wild people who live a transient show more life in the woods, always moving to remain safe from people who would harm them. He remains with them for a time and when he leaves one of the small boys follows him.

The only hints of the young Merlin's magic in these books are the dreams which foretell the future. But they don't clearly tell the future. For as Merlin himself notes: they have to be read on the slant.

I wish that Yolen had continued this series for I enjoyed it a great deal and recommend it to young and old alike. show less

This is really three books in one, but they're such short YA books that I don't feel right counting this volume as three. Yolen offers a unique perspective on the Arthurian legend, with this tale of Merlin's origins. Yolen's writing is lovely, as usual, but overall this felt kind of slight and I really wished that the book was longer and more in-depth. It ends up feeling more like the taste of a story instead of like three novels.

This slim volume contains the three stories Passager, Hobby, and Merlin about a young abandoned boy who become the wizard mage Merlin. An admittedly vocacious reader who is 9 years old read this book in two days and it took me 2-3 hours of sitting around and waiting time.

Jane Yolen does her usual wonderful job of story telling. The characters are real, the dirt and thorns have an impact, and the stories flow into each other. The mysteries of Merlin are not revealed but the impact of those mysteries on his daily life are explored.

Two thumbs up. Several third graders swarmed over this book and they were fighting over it when I left. It was equally appealing to boys and girls. I also recommend Boots and the Seven Leaguers by Jane Yolen. I show more think I read it before I started this blog but it is a great book which generated a lot of excitement in a 1-3rd grade classroom among both boys and girls. show less

This book contains the trilogy of Passage, Hobby and Merlin - three names for a hawk in different stages of being - following the young Merlin's evolution from the time he was abandoned in the woods at age 8 until he formed a bond with a young Arthur at age 12. It's a well-told tale, and a great read for young adult and middle school aged children. Yolen adeptly combines imagination with what can be gleaned of quasi-historic writings about the youth of Merlin to come up with a compelling story. The harsh realities of early Medieval times are an informative background.