80s? Childrens/YA - SciFi/Fantasy - Young Boy alone on quest through vast desert type land

I have such found memories of this book unfortunately they are equally vague. All I can remember is a young boy (not sure if he was meant to be human) was traversing large expanses of desert like lands. I'm not even sure what he was seeking. I dont recall any other main characters, but there may have been. Possibly an elusive wizard type character. I do specifically remember a feeling of isolation being associated with this book, and for some reason the moon and moonlight keeps popping into my head whenever I try to remember more.

your dexcription reminds me of the homeward bounders, though i dont recall anything to do with moonlight.

It reminds me a bit of The Cygnet and the Firebird, but that's early 90s and the protagonist wandering about isn't a boy.

Probably not the book you're looking for, but hopefully it sparks a thought in someone else. ^-^

It made me think of one brief scene with Bastien in the latter half of The Neverending Story, but if you're saying this desert-wandering dominated the story, that can't be it.

>4 Cecrow: Cecrow, I had that thought as well.

Hey Guys,

Thanks a ton for the feedback and suggestions unfortunately neither of the titles mentioned are it. I do have a couple new tidbits to add however. First off I'm almost 100% positive that the book I read was the first in a series. Most likely 1 or 2 more books came after it. It was also a bit on the thin side, maybe a couple hundred pages or so. Another thing I wanted to mention was that when I first started looking for this book I looked under titles by Shell Silverstein. For some reason I associated it with his visual style, and thought it might have been him. Lastly this book has an other worldy type of setting to it. It's definitely not traditional earth bound stuff. Although considering how vague my memories are it may have indeed been set on earth.

So, wait...is this book illustrated, then?

Nope..I more or less meant the cover art

the boy wandering in a desert sounds vaguely like the earlier books in the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Years since I read them so can't be sure

I was thinking The Talisman by King and Straub.

The book that came to mind for me is The Horse and His Boy -- because of the scene where they cross the desert, and the scene where Shasta is alone among the tombs by moonlight. It's probably not what you're looking for, but I thought I'd mention it.

Foggidawn, I thought of that one too!

Makes me think of The Little Prince.

Me, too, jaqen.

No hits yet guys, but I wanted to thank everyone for the suggestions. I'm gonna stop by my local library where I took the book out as a kid and see if I can track it down. I will keep you posted.

The description reminded me of The Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen, but I believe it's a stand-alone novel, so that's probably not the book you're looking for...

One that came to my mind is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. If this isn't what you are looking for, you may like it anyway!

This reminds me of the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin. The first book is A Wizard of Earthsea and the one that your description reminds me of is The Farthest Shore. Not sure if they really fit though...

Reminds me of Andre Norton's The Beast Master sequel Lord of Thunder humans on alien desert world young man spent a lot of time alone with his animals. Dealing with believing he was the sole surviving Native American, I recall the desert planet was so hot most activity happened at night.

What about Dune?

I haven't read the The Boy from Burren (1990), but the summary looks like it could be promising.

Norton's The Mark of the Cat (1992) featured a young (teenage?) boy wandering in a desert, but it also heavily features giant cats, which you don't mention in your memories, so....

The Gandalara Cycle (The Steel of Raithskar (1981)) features a lot of wandering and lot of deserts, but the male protagonist is an adult. (Also, giant cats again.)

The description reminds me of Young Legionary, however that's not set in a desert

I'm reminded of Maze in the Heart of the Castle by Dorothy Gilman