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The Weirdo books once had a 'prettiest girls list'. Now, they are re-recording the audiobooks Before we talk about changes to his books, Anh Do wants to say something. The best-selling author of children's books Weirdo and Wolf Girl is appalled by reports of students at Yarra Valley Grammar rating girls based on their appearance. "I think what these boys have done is absolutely terrible; it's shocking. I have first-hand experience of what it's like to be on the other side of that," he says. "When I was at primary school, I remember overhearing a couple of girls laughing and talking, and I saw the list and I was second last. And it made me feel quite unattractive for years and years." Writer and painter Anh Do. Do, who rose to fame with his 2010 award-winning memoir The Happiest Refugee, was rated 14 out of 15 for the boys: such lists were commonplace back then, he says. While he doesn't think it was done maliciously, the impact was ongoing. It's almost worse than someone calling you a name, he says and recalls thinking, "this must be the truth". "Like when your parents are talking privately about you and you overhear." The Weirdo books contained lists ranking girls by their appearance, which were removed from printed versions three years ago; the audiobooks are about to be amended.Credit: Scholastic Yarra Valley Grammar expelled two boys on Tuesday for producing a spreadsheet that used disparaging language to rate female classmates' appearances. In books one and two of his blockbuster Weirdo series, Do's main character (who is named Weirdo) ranks female classmates on such a list. When the writer/artist reread those books three years ago, he decided the list idea was outdated and no longer appropriate. He asked his publisher Scholastic to remove all those references and assumed that would include the audiobooks - but it didn't. That was an oversight, he said on Monday, and the audiobooks are now being urgently re-recorded. "My intention with Weirdo was that if you ever see yourself on a list and you're near the bottom, it's OK. That was my intention, Weirdo likes a girl and someone has made a list and this girl is seventh but he likes her," he says. Times have changed, Do says, adding he wouldn't include the lists if he had his time over again.Credit: Scholastic With 19 books now in the Weirdo series, it has sold 4 million copies in Australia alone but has also been successful overseas. Do says if he had his time over again, he wouldn't include the list. "Most fairytales have the princess who's the most beautiful in the land and the prince who is the most handsome and I wanted to change that narrative," he says. Even though Weirdo is funny-looking, he can still be the hero, Do says, and kids love the underdog: he's not the fastest, the smartest or the best-looking, but he is a hero who represents them. The news comes amid discussions about gender stereotypes and toxic masculinity - particularly in young men, amid a backdrop of male "influencers" such as Andrew Tate proving popular among some teenage boys - and ongoing violence against women in Australia. Do argues lists based on attractiveness have been normalised in society. "As long as society has Miss Universe and someone comes first, second and third, and magazines do the 'world's hottest actor' lists, kids see these things," he says. Until we stop running such events and publishing these things, the best-selling author says, children and teens might well continue to copy them. On Monday, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan linked the Yarra Valley Grammar incident to the crisis of violence against women. "The behaviour that's been reported ... at that school in Ringwood is misogynist, it's disgraceful, it's disgusting and it's utterly unacceptable," Allan said. "Four women every week are losing their lives at the hands of a man. Not only does this pattern of violence against women have to stop but also these displays of disrespecting women. My thoughts today are with the young women and the young men who they go to school with who are absolutely devastated by this." The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from books editor Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday. LoadingMost Viewed in Culture