The City Beautiful is a young adult, historical fantasy novel by Aden Polydoros, about a gay Jewish teenager in 19th century Chicago who is possessed by a dybbuk seeking revenge for its murder.

When Yakov is found dead at the Chicago World's Fair, Alter becomes suspicious that he was murdered, one in a string of disappeared Jewish boys.

Alter is joined in his investigation of the disappearances by his neighbour Raizel Ackermann and his old friend Frankie Portnoy, who both also know missing or dead boys.

They find no leads, but Alter starts uncontrollably raving about dead Jewish boys in Europe.

Alter sneaks into the factory but is captured by Katz, who admits to sexually abusing boys including Frankie.

In the aftermath, Frankie tells Alter that Katz lured him with a job offer, and he turned to thieving to avoid further abuse.

In a vision, Yakov tells Alter that his family died when their synagogue was burned by Tugarin Zmeyevich—the name of a mythical dragon.

Alter and Raizel follow Gregory to an unfinished synagogue, which he plans to burn to destroy a Jewish neighbourhood.

[11] Kirkus Reviews described the book as "slow-moving but compelling", and praised the combination of a detailed historical setting with fantasy elements.

[10] In The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April Spisak describes Alter as a "sympathetic and compelling protagonist".

[9] An NPR review by Caitlin Paxson highlights how the darkness of the story (such as the emotional scars of the characters) "makes it all the more moving".

[8] The City Beautiful won the young adult category of the Sydney Taylor Book Award.