PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (CBS) – Philadelphia’s Rosenbach Museum is now home to a rare work of art by one of the country’s best-loved children’s book authors.

The museum has just unveiled the only mural ever painted by Maurice Sendak.

Sendak, who is perhaps best known for “Where the Wild Things Are,” includes hints of the 1963 book in the mural he painted on a bedroom wall for the children of his friends, the Chertoffs, in 1961.

“When we were little, Maurice Sendak saw this big white wall and said he wanted to paint a mural, and he painted the mural, and it was fantastic to watch and came to life right in front of us,” Nina Chertoff says.

Chertoff says her mother stayed in that New York apartment until she died three years ago, and Nina feared the mural would be lost. So she called Derick Dreher at the Rosenbach, which she knew already had a large Sendak collection.

“I told Nina, ‘There are no murals by Maurice Sendak,’ and she said, ‘I think you need to come to New York,’” Dreher says.

The mural was removed and restored and is now on display.

Reported by Pat Loeb, KYW Newsradio