I love reading but was disappointed when I got to the point that pictures in stories was considered immature. I always wondered why the writers could not include a few images of what they imagined their characters looked like and what they were doing.
The advent of the graphic novel has been awesome but I feel they need to be a bit longer.
I can relate with what you say and what you pointed out is a big miss by authors. Visual storytelling is not just the child-thing. it makes reading fun for all.