★One of Notable Book for the Taiwan Pavilion at the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair
★One of Notable Book for the Taiwan Pavilion at the 2026 Angoulême International Comics Festival
★2025 Selected by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture as a “Books from Taiwan”
★Rights sold: Korea

This book uses delicate prose and colorful illustrations to capture children’s observation and curiosity as they explore the world.

The story begins with a simple question – “How old is an apple?” It unfolds from a child’s first-person perspective to ask a series of whimsical and thought-provoking questions—“How old is a running dog?”, “How old is the light from a lamp?”, “How old was Mom when she gave birth to me?”, “When Mom gets angry, how old is she?”, and finally, “How old am I?” Through these playful questions, the story gently explores the concept of age in everyday life and relationships.

This book features a unique “book within a book” design and includes five children’s poems – “A Big Discovery”, “Things I Want to Do”, “Measuring My Height”, “A Bright New” Day, and “Birthday”. Like flipping through the pages of a secret diary, these poems tenderly capture the hidden thoughts and feeling of growing up, allowing readers to experience and beauty of childhood and growth.

How old is An Apple? is inspired by a conversation between the author and her child. As they discussed the concept of age to understand the passage of time and growing up, every page of this book is thought-provoking.

Xia Xia (夏夏) has authored Miss Debussy and Little Daughter, and she has edited A Tale of Sunken Boat—A Dictionary of the Lost, 151 Hours, and Poetry of Scents. She also wrote novels, ranging from The Beer Before the End of the World, A Tale of Dog, Cooking at The Sea, and The Millennium Zoo.

Soupy Tang (湯舒皮) is an illustrator and a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. Drawing and illustration are a source of enjoyment in her life. She illustrated: Follow Soupy; Relax Together, Draw Life with Soupy, A Day of British Life with Soupy, Twinning’s Mesmerizing Afternoon Tea, and World’s Kitchen. With Weijing Lee, she also produced Pickle!. Lastly, she also co-illustrated with Banana Yoshimoto for The Tender and Happy Dream of Tapioca and Mom’s Journal.