Graphic novels work in the way that films work, telling stories by integrating words and pictures. This, says Sue Palmer, literacy expert and author of Detoxing Childhood, is the way that we expect stories to be told in the 21st century, the way that brains are beginning to work. So, she says, they are attractive to children who are more familiar with television, online virtual worlds and other visual media than books.

They're particularly useful for motivating boys and young men to read. Boys want immediate results from their reading, while girls are prepared to slog at it, says Sue Palmer. They need to be motivated to practice reading by books that will give them action and excitement in a short text. They need the practice to get access to more exciting stories which in turn will make them keep reading.

Graphic novels make a bridge between picture books and full-length novels. Sue Palmer says: They are an exciting alternative to TV and all the other kinds of entertainment books have to compete with. To read the Artemis Fowl Graphic Novel edition, children have to apply a range of reading skills including recognising the various kinds of speech bubbles and thought panels (for example, Artemis 's thoughts appear against purple tinted backgrounds while Holly 's thoughts are green).

Visual appreciation of comic strip art can start very young. Raymond Briggs' The Snowman, which has no written text, uses the page layout to tell the story by revealing passage of time.

It's a form that grows with its readers and can match all levels of reading sophistication: Briggs' Father Christmas tells the story in Santa's blooming speech bubbles, Art Spiegelman's The Complete Maus (Penguin) offers older teens and adults a way into studying the Holocaust through a dramatised graphic novel treatment. Comics can make complex ideas more accessible.

Graphic novels and comics also build reading bridges across the generations. When Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped became Edinburgh's citywide read in 2007, three graphic novel editions of the swashbuckling adventure yarn were distributed across the city for both children and adults to enjoy (one in English, one in Scots and one for emergent readers). Male role models who enjoy reading help to motivate boys to read, and the new graphic novel edition of Artemis Fowl could be shared between fathers, sons, older brothers and grandfathers.

Producing their own comic strips, inspired by the comics they enjoy reading, can help children develop their writing skills even if they are only writing BOOM!. POW! and SPLAT!. They will practise art and design techniques at the same time. Producing your own comic would make a great family project for a half term or wet weekend.

Comics can lead children who are new readers into vast spheres of knowledge very quickly. Andrew Donkin, who is working with Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer to adapt the Artemis series for graphic novel editions, remembers being introduced to comics at the age of 5. "My dad brought home The Mighty World of Marvel, and by the time I was six I knew the meaning of words like incredible and magnetism and what a gamma ray was. Fortunately my parents let me read as many comics as I liked. Comics are saying to children who don't fancy reading: Go on, give it a go."

While they are especially effective for engaging boys in reading, comics and graphic novels reach out to girls too. The Japanese graphic novel tradition of manga (which represents 40 per cent of all books published in Japan) has a distinct style of manga called shojon aimed at younger teenage girls.

Children never need to grow out of graphic novels: they can be enjoyed alongside traditional novels and there is a particularly wide choice for readers who enjoy fantasy, horror and virtual worlds.