Secret ingredient behind Brit author's 'ratted' book - rat pee!

London, June 30 : An award-winning author of children's books used rat's urine to give a distinctive look to her new book on mouse.

Emily Gravett, who has just won the most coveted award for children's illustration with Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears, exploring the phobias of a mouse, revealed that she had used rodent's urine to give the pages a yellow tinge and make them look "properly ratted".

The author has dedicated her latest book to her two pet rats Button and Moo that are now dead, and were happy to nibble away at pieces of paper.

"They are easy to persuade. You just have to bribe them with food," the Telegraph quoted her as telling The Guardian.

"They like anything with fat," she added. "They are real gluttons."

She had scanned the chewed, urinated-on pages and used them as background for her illustrations.

The Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears won the CILIP medal for book illustration.

ANI