Hey I have a problem with the bake brakes on my '97 Cavalier.  I changed the brakes about a year ago and they seemed to work fine.  Today I went to check them because I was noticing a slight squeal and the one shoe was broken.  If anyone can give me some advice on how to prevent this from happening again I would appreciate it.  

Sounds mostly like a manufacturers problem in workmanship or materials. It's seldom that anything you can do during installtion that could cause a failure such as you describe.

Bogie