Eve (Adapted for Young Adults): How the Female Body Shaped Human Evolution

Gr 9 Up–Why do female humans have breasts? Why do they menstruate? Why do women live longer than men? Why is Alzheimer’s Disease more prevalent among women than men? Why do girls score higher in standardized academic testing than boys until their scores plummet in puberty? Answers to these and many other questions drive this young readers’ adaptation of Bohannon’s best-selling popular science book. Through a series of model “Eves,” representative females of different species through evolutionary history from the Morganucodon of over 200 million years ago to homo sapiens that emerged 300,000 years ago, the story of female bodies in all of their complexity and uniqueness is told. While the author’s enthusiasm and depth of knowledge on the topic shine through alongside her nuanced and inclusive approach to questions of gender and identity, the absence of a glossary, index, or source notes is an omission in a 400+ page text. Despite the lack of auxiliary materials, this represents a work of significance in understanding the female body’s critical importance in shaping human evolution.