This reminds me a little of the experiences of myself and friends during our middle school and high school years. I wish I could say that it was just fun and magical but it was more silly, embarrassing and even a painful time. We were the types to learn from reading everything from novels to our family members' magazines (for me, way more desirable and even better than cringey parent talks or whatever schools were pushed to teach--even before the internet had much content). In the ways of facts, we were overly armed, but, no amount of lecturing or reading can properly prepare some of us for what we experience emotionally, physiologically.
So far, I think that the author captured something fairly well.