Daniel sees his par­ents car­ry­ing mys­te­ri­ous box­es through the snow and won­ders what they are doing. They tell him only that they are ​“out and about.” Even­tu­al­ly, he dis­cov­ers that his fam­i­ly is busy help­ing their neigh­bors, the Cohens, nav­i­gate some dif­fi­cult times. They do not receive recog­ni­tion for their efforts; they are help­ing for the pure joy of aid­ing others.

A note teach­es the read­er the con­cept of tzedakah and explains that this is one of the most impor­tant com­mand­ments in the Torah. It lists the eight lev­els of tzedakah as set out by Mai­monides, the most praise­wor­thy being that of anony­mous giving.

With beau­ti­ful col­or illus­tra­tions and a mul­ti­cul­tur­al cast of char­ac­ters, Out and About high­lights the joy of giv­ing with no expec­ta­tion of reward. This is a won­der­ful sto­ry to read aloud with chil­dren as they devel­op their own capac­i­ty for help­ing those in need.