Rather than endorse conformity, this rhyming tale focuses on Joe's search for a creative solution. When the queen of her bugs demands that her army march in even lines, Private Joe divides the marchers into more and more lines so that he will not be left out of the parade. As they did in One Hundred Hungry Ants, Pinczes and MacKain apply numerical division to a practical problem-and explain it in an entertaining, visually emphatic way.