Preview of Passager Summary:

For Passager and its sequels, Hobby and Merlin, Yolen provides an unusual and interesting perspective on the figure Merlin, a literary character so potent that he has appeared in the literatures of many nations in many languages, although his origin is in Britain. King Arthur, with whom Merlin is closely associated, has had his childhood told and retold from many perspectives, usually with Merlin playing a part in his becoming King of the Britons. Yolen says that it was Merlin's fatherlike relationship with Arthur that inspired Passager, although she first depicted Merlin as Arthur's mentor in the short story "The Dragon's Boy" (1993). In Passager, Yolen tells of the child Merlin and some of the experiences, that shape the odd, mysterious, and menacing yet vulnerable figure that he will ultimately become.

A fearful pair of women abandon a seven-year-old boy in the woods, leaving him with only the clothes...