Maurice Sendak tackles Hanukkah

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - When New York City's Jewish Museum invited "Where the Wild Things Are" author Maurice Sendak to rummage through its collection and choose menorahs for a Hanukkah exhibit, the results was an exhibit of 33 severe-looking treasures.

The 83-year-old children's author and illustrator said he chose the menorahs, all from the 18th to the 20th centuries, for "An Artist Remembers: Hanukkah Lamps Selected by Maurice Sendak" because their simplicity evoked the Holocaust.

Sendak was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Jewish immigrant parents, and much of his extended family died in the Holocaust.

The lamps, which Sendak said "go right to the heart," come from all over Europe and the U.S. One comes from Israel.

Also included in the exhibit, which opens Friday and continues through Jan. 29 , are original drawings from Sendak's books and audio of his conversations with curators.

Sendak, winner of the Caldecott Medal and the National Book Award, is the author and illustrator of more than a dozen children's books including "Where the Wild Things Are," "In the Night Kitchen" and "Bumble-Ardy.'' He also has illustrated more than 50 other books.