I wouldn't ask them to read any existing stuff, because I'd want them to learn how to write some of that themselves.

Things like: Lexer, Parser, Expression Creator, Optimizer, Evaluator, Expression -> Machine Code Template Matcher, and Machine Code Generator.

Where commercial compilers do better than most grad student projects is the modularity, the number of optimizer passes and options, and the run-time tooling and modularity.

Unless a student implements these themselves, they'll be spending more time understanding the discrete implementations, with it's flaws/features more than the concepts itself, or the big picture.

Hence, in order to create better engineers overall, I'd recommend they do it all themselves initially.