ABANDONED. YA Magic, Child/boy grows up in forest, caged, late 90's?

[Elldoll]

I think it is a trilogy, written in the late 90's. Vaguely recall a boy growing up in a forest on his own. Someone, an old man and his family maybe, take the boy and teach him how to be civil. I think magic is involved somewhere. I remember that when the boy has nightmares he puts his palms together , folds his fore fingers and twists his hands to wake up. In one of the books he works at a fair of some sort. I recall he is trapped in a cage at some point. I think one of the hardbound covers was white, with a boy in a cage, green eyes, leaves on his head, maybe? I think the name had the word 'magic' in the title.. Thank you for your help!!

[Cheryl]

Did you get it at the school or city library, at a bookstore, elsewhere? Do you remember how you heard about it or why you decided to read it?

[Elldoll]

I read it for fun over the summer of 2003, found at a public library that is no longer open..

[Lee Anne]

I haven't read them, but for some reason The Lost Years of Merlin comes to mind. It was written in the late 90s, and I've seen it show up in lots of places.

[Cheryl]

Dang, how sad when libraries close. But at least you've given us good context clues.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Elldoll, are you still looking for this?

[caracal-eyes]

Sounds a bit like Passager. The description doesn't tell much, and it's been forever since I read it, but this review gave a summary that sounded promising: "Eight-year-old Merlin finds himself abandoned in the woods. He survives for a year, living on raw fish and woodland plants. To protect himself from wild dogs, Merlin sleeps in the trees. He is both comforted and terrorized by his dreams. Then, one day, a man comes to the woods bearing a falcon. By this time, Merlin has lost the ability to speak, but, as he watches the man and the bird, the words come back. Merlin’s curiosity gets the better of him, and he follows the man home. The man captures and, then, patiently tames the boy as he would a wild bird."

So, the part about the dreams especially made it seem likely. In the second book, he joins a company of traveling performers. Plus, an edition of the third book has him in a cage on the cover. The first book's publication date is 1998.

Here are the covers:

[Cheryl]

abandoned...