David Blaize and the Blue Door
The protagonist of David Blaize and the Blue Door, by E.F. Benson, enters a mysterious blue door in a London street and finds himself in a fantastical world filled with strange creatures and surreal landscapes.
By E.F. Benson · First published 1909 · Genre: Fiction, Children's Fiction, Fantasy · 8 chapters · 42,170 words
First lines
Ever since he was four years old, and had begun to think seriously, as a boy should, David Blaize had been aware that there was a real world lying somewhere just below the ordinary old thing in which his father and mother and nurse and the rest of the fast-asleep grown-up people lived. Boys began to get drowsy, he knew, about the time that they were ten, though they might still have occasional waking moments, and soon after that they went sound asleep, and lost all chance of ever seeing the real world. If you asked grown-ups some tremendously important question, such as ‘Why do the leaves fall off the trees when there is glass on the lake? ' as likely as not they would begin talking in their sleep about frost and sap, just as if that had got anything to do with the real reason. Or they might point out that it wasn't real glass on the lake, but ice, and, if they were more than usually sound asleep, take a piece of the lake-glass and let you hold it in your fingers till it became water.
What this Textopian page supports
David Blaize and the Blue Door is listed on Textopian as a novel by E.F. Benson, dated 1909 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Novel
- Author: E.F. Benson
- Date: 1909 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Fiction, Children's Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, Coming of Age
- Length: 42,170 words
- Structure: 8 chapters, 902 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for David Blaize and the Blue Door by E.F. Benson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph
Discussion starters
- What should a reader notice first when entering David Blaize and the Blue Door?
- How does this novel by E.F. Benson fit its genre, period, or classroom use?
- Where does Fiction first become important in the reading?
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Genres
- Fiction — The book presents a narrative populated with characters, settings, and events that are not based on reality, fitting within the broad genre of fiction.
- Children's Fiction — The protagonist David Blaize is a schoolboy throughout the novel, and the storytelling style appeals to young readers, placing the book in the genre of children's fiction.
- Fantasy — The presence of the mystical blue door and the consequences it entails introduce elements of magic and otherworldly adventures typical of fantasy genre.
- Adventure — The book traces the schoolboy's encounters with the mysterious blue door, including the challenges and exciting situations it brings, aligning with the adventure genre.
Tags
fantasy · adventure · coming of age · magic · mystery · friendship · imagination · childhood · portal · self-discovery · whimsical · British literature