The Young Merlin Trilogy Series by Jane Yolen

A boy is abandoned in the woods of medieval England. A year passes--a year of terror and hunger, of sleeping in trees and foraging for food, of outrunning packs of wild dogs--until one day a falconer captures and tames the boy as he would any passager, a young bird caught in the wild and trained. The falconer adopts the boy and teaches him all of the things he’s forgotten, including the boy’s true name--and the legacy of magic that will be his when he comes of age.

When young Merlin falls into the company of traveling performers, they rename him Hobby, after a small falcon. Nightmarish trouble lies ahead on the path that will lead him to greatness.

Deep in the forest, young Merlin falls into the hands of the wodewose -- wild folk who are actually a family of the unwanted. Although he is at home among the clan, the boy must follow his visions and confront the magic that is his destiny.

This is the legendary story of Merlin--from his abandonment by his parents at the age of eight to the discovery of his powers at twelve. Together, these three novels reimagine the origins of the greatest wizard of all time, giving readers a Merlin at once more human and more magical than any that has appeared before.