Charles Schulz to be inducted into California Hall of Fame

There’s a full-length “Peanuts” movie on the way, and later this week the U.S. Postal Service will release a booklet of first-class stamps printed with scenes from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

Could life possibly be any better right now for admirers of the late Charles Schulz and the cast of his universally adored comic strip?

Evidently it can.

Gov. Jerry Brown and first lady Anne Gust Brown announced on Tuesday that Schulz will be inducted into the state’s Hall of Fame this year.

If that weren’t enough, the Sonoma County Library is putting out the word that it is offering, for a limited time, a new library card graced with an image of a reclining Charlie Brown reading a book and using Snoopy as a pillow.

The California Hall of Fame induction will happen Oct. 28 at the sponsoring California Museum in Sacramento. The governor announced that Schulz, a Minnesota native who drew “Peanuts” in Sonoma County from 1958 until his death at his Santa Rosa home in 2000, is one of eight Californians honored for personifying the state’s “spirit of innovation.”

Rounding out the ninth class of inductees are:

A-list actor and survivor of addiction Robert Downey Jr.

Lester Holt, the new anchor of NBC’s “Nightly News.”

Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, who became the first Latina in space on a 1999 mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

Artist David Hockney

Olympic figure skating champion Kristi Yamaguchi.

Late country music legend and actor Buck Owens.

“It’s pretty exciting, huh?” Jeannie Schulz said Tuesday from her home in Santa Rosa. The famed cartoonist’s widow said she looks forward to attending the Hall of Fame ceremony and seeing all of the living inductees.

Jeannie Schulz enjoyed meeting Yamaguchi when the skater visited the ice arena that her late husband built in 1969, and she had a brief encounter years ago with Brown.

At the induction ceremony, the honorees or their survivors will be presented by Brown a Spirit of California medal, and their contributions will be added to the permanent record in the California State Archives.

The state museum and former first lady Maria Shriver created the California Hall of Fame in 2006 to honor Californians who have made history.

At the moment, the Sonoma County Library also is honoring Schulz and encouraging literacy by offering the limited-edition library cards bearing drawings of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

Anyone in the county can go into a library branch and request one of the “Peanuts” cards, either as a first-ever library card or a replacement. Library officials would like for every child in the county to have a library card.

There is no charge for the Charlie Brown and Snoopy card. But there’s a limited number of them and they’re available on a first-come, first-served basis.