Meet Katie Fulton, creative mind behind viral 600-book Christmas tree

You might have come across multiple book lovers who have transformed their passion into building giant public libraries.

But few are as dedicated as those who not only love reading books but also find creative ways to turn them into art—like a Christmas tree.

Katie Fulton, 37 years old, hails from central New Jersey and now lives in Media, Pennsylvania.

While sharing about her passion, claiming to read 200 books a year, she told People that, “Even as a kid, I felt like reading gave me this little world of my own, a place to escape, learn, and dream.”

Although she credits her passion for reading to their grandparents, saying, “What really inspired my love for reading, though, was my grandparents. They both read constantly and encouraged reading throughout my childhood, even if my grandpa did get frustrated that I couldn’t sit still to listen to a story!”

This year, while crafting the newest iteration of her book tree, she faced a hiccup while constructing it.

She shared her experience while stacking over 600 books over two months, saying, “Once I finished, I was a little worried about the weight of 600+ books over two months on my floors, so I started over and remade it with 470 books. I know it likely would have been fine, but I was anxious about it, so I did it for my own peace of mind.”

Each year, Fulton passionately shares her tree-building process with her online community on Instagram and TikTok.

This year, she shared a time-lapse video of constructing the tree on TikTok, too.

Soon after posting it, the video went viral and amassed over 27 million views and over 8,000 comments, with fans mostly praising her unique style of creativity.