Book Review: “Maysoon Zayid, the Girl Who Can Can” (Muslim Mavericks) by Seema Yasmin

“Maysoon Zayid, the Girl Who Can Can” (Muslim Mavericks) by Seema Yasmin (Author), Noha Habaieb (Illustrator) (2026)

Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography

Page Length: 80 pages (hardcover edition)

Synopsis:

This is the story of the girl who could!

Maysoon Zayid was just a girl from New Jersey. She might have sometimes felt like she was in the shadow of her three older sisters, but in her dreams, she was Mimi—an amazing actress, comedian, and dancer! The only problem? People kept telling Maysoon her dreams were impossible!

Achieving her goals certainly wasn’t easy; as a Palestinian Muslim girl born with cerebral palsy, Maysoon faced all sorts of challenges—both physical and societal. But Maysoon didn’t dare give up. Instead, she followed her heart all the way to the screen and stage to become one of America’s first ever women Muslim comedians and an actress on her favorite TV show.

Review:

What a delightful and informative start to a series that will educate and inspire young readers. I remember reading series similar to Muslim Mavericks growing up and enjoyed them. I feel that it’s important for a new generation of young readers to expand their knowledge of the world around them. It makes me happy to see books such as this being published and it’s a reminder to us all that representation is very important!

Maysoon Zayid is an American actress and comedian of Palestinian descent. She is known as one of America’s first Muslim women comedians. On top of her work on screen she is a disability advocate and in this book it explores her life experiences growing up with cerebral palsy. Through the narrative of the book it discusses Zayid’s perseverance to be on the big screen since childhood and the steps she took to make that goal. Because of her disability there were many naysayers that tried to stop her from pursuing her dreams.

Yasmin does a wonderful job of telling Zayid’s story paired along with the fun illustrations by Habaieb for context. The book though short gives a comprehensive overview of Zayid’s story while also bringing awareness to breaking down disability stereotypes. I do wish it explored more about her culture as well since she touches on her parent’s life in Palestine and spending summers there as well. I hope in future installments of the series that we can hear more about these aspects of the person’s life outside their career growth.

Recommended read for young readers who want to be inspired and learn about influential figures in history/pop culture!

Final Verdict:

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.