Story about a young male thief who is discovered and trained by an old magician

Question

The book was likely aimed at middle-schoolers, and I read the first half of it in the early 90's.

The boy was a successful thief, and I think he came from an abusive home. An old wizard/magician found the boy and convinced him to follow the magician on a quest. I think the magician sought the boy out because the boy had potential to save the world. The magician started to train the boy in the art of magic, and promised him that he would be a great magician some day. The boy got captured and... that's about where I stopped reading.

I think this book was the start of a series.

---

Edit for future searches:

• Yes, this book was part of a series, a trilogy to be exact.
• The boy was a thief, and he did come from an abusive home, although without blood relatives.
• An old magician found the boy by happenstance, and lured him into his house. The magician made the boy his apprentice, then invited him on a quest a couple of months later.
• The magician didn't seek the boy out, but he did recognize the boy's potential to be a great apprentice. And it wasn't really to save the world, just to do a real important mission.
• The boy did get captured, along with the magician, on their quest.

Answer 1

This might be The Magician's Apprentice (1987) by Tom McGowen. It's a YA novel advertised by Scholastic for years 6-8. It is the first book of a three book series.

It starts with a young cut-purse noticing a wizard leave his house but not properly lock the door. The would-be thief sneaks in but the wizard returns far too soon and he is trapped.

The wizard reveals he knows the thief is there and binds him with magic (he creates a little doll to control him) to do service to make up for trying to steal.

After some weeks of service the thief begins to learn a bit about magic, and when the wizard gives him the chance to free himself and leave, the thief instead decides to stay and become an apprentice.

Shortly after, the wizard is hired to join a caravan and their adventure begins...

Most of the mentioned plot points are mentioned in the first few pages.