The Center of the World (original German title: Die Mitte der Welt) is a novel by Andreas Steinhöfel from 1998.

The main plot of the novel begins when Phil's best friend Kat (whose actual name is "Katja") returns from her summer vacation with her family.

Phil is seventeen years old, has a twin sister (Dianne), a best friend (Kat), a slightly crazy mother (Glass) with constantly changing male relationships.

With his mother and his sister, Phil lives in a huge mansion called 'Visible' which is located slightly remote from their city.

In the nationwide German newspaper Die Zeit, Konrad Heidkamp praised Steinhöfel for excelling himself: "The flashbacks from the children's point of view that allow room for Steinhöfel's deadpan humor, and the romantic fairytales - from the pond via the black wooden doll to the castle with royal children -, combined with the young literate author's smart way of introducing these two layers into the storyline, make this a book on the tenderness of reading and the risk inherent to strong feelings.

Louis Hofmann starred as Phil, Jannik Schümann portrayed Nicholas and Svenja Jung played Kat.